Avis Budget Group Predicts Revenues of $8.85 Billion for 2017

Based on preliminary data, Avis Budget Group, Inc. estimates that for 2017 calendar year revenues increased to approximately $8.85 billion. Avis said in a press statement that it expects pretax income to be between $205 million and $215 million and adjusted pretax income to be between $340 million and $350 million.

The Company also expects adjusted EBITDA to be within a range of $730 million to $740 million.

The 2017 results compare to full-year results in 2016 of $8.7 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $838 million.

"Over the past two years we were confronted with nearly $300 million of unexpected pricing and fleet cost challenges. In the face of these extraordinary market pressures, we took decisive steps to reduce costs, including implementing voluntary retirement programs and other actions that produced more than $75 million of cost savings in 2017 alone," said Larry De Shon, Avis Budget Group president and chief executive officer.

"In the fourth quarter of 2017, we generated our second consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year pricing in the Americas. For full-year 2017, we achieved significantly improved productivity from our manpower planning and shuttling initiatives and generated substantial benefits from our initiative to sell more of our used cars through low-cost alternative disposition channels. Additionally, we began the rollout of our sophisticated new revenue management system with algorithms that will assist us with dynamic pricing and setting fleet levels based on the available demand."

De Shon also pointed to initiatives in the mobility landscape, including Avis Budget Group’s partnerships with Waymo and RocketSpace, expanding Zipcar’s global presence, and launching its "Mobility Lab" in the greater Kansas City, Mo. Area, which serves as a pilot for fully-connected vehicles and operations.

The Company also reported it expects to continue to face headwinds in 2018 such as the incremental impact of rising interest rates. Further guidance will be provided on the company’s 2018 outlook with its full-year earnings announcement on February 21.