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Revenue was $445.7 million, down 1.3 percent compared with the second quarter a year ago.
CEO Gary Paxton said the company's results were impacted by a slow economy and rising vehicle depreciation costs.
"As we previously announced, our second-quarter results were below our expectations due to challenges primarily in the areas of revenue per day and vehicle depreciation costs," Paxton said in a prepared statement.
Average monthly depreciation costs per vehicle increased 28.1 percent in the second quarter, to $369, compared with last year's second quarter, as the used car market remained soft, Dollar Thrifty executives said.
Second-quarter expenses totaled $455.5 million, up 4.5 percent from 2007's second quarter. Vehicle depreciation and lease charges were $146.5 million in the second quarter, a 20.8 percent increase.
The second-quarter fleet averaged 129,017 vehicles, down 4.4 percent from a year ago. Vehicle
utilization was 85.7 percent, up 3.6 percentage points from last year's second quarter. Average revenue per day was $42.18, down 1.3 percent.
Paxton said the company expects rental car industry operating conditions to remain challenging in the second half of the year due to concerns about the strength of the economy, volatility in used car pricing, tough credit markets and reduced airline capacity.
"In this tough economic environment, we continue to concentrate on the items in our business that we control such as maximizing revenue per day, vehicle utilization, cost reduction and service delivery," Paxton said. "Our focus in today's environment is on executing every day, in every market, with every customer."
Company executives said vehicle rental revenue is expected to fall 1 percent to 2 percent this year compared with 2007. Vehicle depreciation costs on a per-vehicle basis will be about 15 percent higher, assuming no disruption in vehicle deliveries from suppliers and stability in the used car market, they said.
For the first six months of the year, Dollar Thrifty posted a net loss of $287.18 million compared with net income of $20.48 million in 2007's first six months. Its loss per share was $13.49 million compared with earnings of 84 cents in last year's first half. Revenue was $842.2 million in the first six months, down 0.8 percent.
Dollar Thrifty ended the second quarter with cash and short-term investments of $80 million, down 58.7 percent from the level of June 30, 2007. The company had vehicle debt of $2.3 billion on June 30, down 15 percent.
Dollar Thrifty shares closed Tuesday at $3.50, up 31 cents or 9.7 percent. More than 882,700 shares were traded.
D.R. Stewart 581-8451
don.stewart@tulsaworld.com
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