Corona is also changing the car rental business. In Germany the trend is towards long-term rent. However, Sixt can grow strongly in the USA.
The car rental company Sixt made more profit in the second quarter than in the second quarter of the record year 2019 with a strongly growing US business.
Nevertheless, the two co-CEOs Alexander and Konstantin Sixt remain cautious for the year as a whole: The development from October is uncertain because of the pandemic, they said on Wednesday and confirmed the previous annual forecast.
Sixt generated 63 million euros in profit in the second quarter, after a loss of 72 million in the same quarter of the previous year and a profit of 54 million euros in the same quarter of 2019. The costs were significantly reduced. The driver, however, was the US business, where Sixt continued to expand even during the crisis and is now benefiting from the elimination of most travel restrictions and higher prices: With sales of 155 million euros, the US business accounted for almost a third of the Group’s quarterly sales of 498 million euros – and half of the operating profit, as CFO Kai Andrejewski said. In the medium term, the company wants to be present at each of the 50 largest US airports.
Business in Germany was more restrained. Long-term rents in particular developed positively here. In the rest of Europe, the easing of travel in the holiday season resulted in more demand.
The strike at Deutsche Bahn caused a surge in demand from Tuesday, especially for one-way rentals, as Konstantin Sixt said. Claus Weselsky, chairman of the German train drivers’ union, has named the company “Employee of the Month” for the third time in advertisements. The rail strike did not play a role in the business figures, said the co-chief executive.
For the year as a whole, Sixt expects between 1.95 and 2.1 billion euros in sales and between 190 and 220 million euros in profit before taxes – exactly in the middle between the figures for the record year 2019 and the Corona year 2020. Alexander Sixt had for consumers Another bad news: “We believe that a higher price level will prevail in the medium term.” He and his brother Konstantin Sixt took over the management of the group in June from their father Erich, who now heads the supervisory board. The Sixt family holds 58 percent of the voting shares in the SE.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
