Europcar Made A €20 Million Loss

Europcar made a €20 million loss during the first quarter of the year, down from a loss of €69 million during the same period last year.

Its total revenue came to €418 million, up slightly from €414 million in the first quarter of 2015.

It was the eighth quarter in a row of growth for the Group, which it put down to the success of the sales initiatives launched within its Fast Lane transformation programme.

Chairman Philippe Germond said: "Europcar has achieved sound performance over this first quarter. We keep up the deployment of the second phase of our transformation program, Fast Lane, focusing on commercial initiatives and on our customer journey.

"Our low cost brand, InterRent, recorded very good results over the quarter with a growth of 90% of the rental revenue, especially in our Southern European countries, strengthening our ambition on this growing market."

The group admitted the trend was less favourable on the corporate side, especially in Belgium due to the recent terrorist attacks and in the UK, in particularly for the car replacement activities.

Its corporate net debt amounted to €247 million at the end of March, down from €235 million on December 31, 2015.~