People want to travel again, but rental cars are scarce and expensive. This gave Sixt a record result in the first half of the year. The outlook is also positive.
The car rental company Sixt benefits from the growing desire to travel and high rental prices. After the best half-year results in the company’s history, he is aiming for a record profit of 480 million euros before taxes this year. Despite the shortage of vehicles on offer from car manufacturers, Sixt was able to increase its fleet and meet the high demand in all markets, said co-CEO Alexander Sixt in Pullach on Wednesday.
In the first half of the year, sales of 1.3 billion euros exceeded the half-year figure for the pre-Corona year 2019 by 17 percent. Profit before tax even doubled to 223 million euros; after taxes remained 160 million euros.
The growth driver in the first half of the year was the European foreign business with an 82 percent increase in sales. In the USA, sales increased by 66 percent and in Germany by 33 percent. After two years of the corona pandemic, people wanted to travel again, said Alexander Sixt.
Although car manufacturers are struggling with delivery bottlenecks and the vehicle supply is scarce, Sixt was able to significantly increase its fleet. Extended lead times and additional suppliers contributed to this. With an average of 129,400 vehicles, the fleet has almost reached the pre-Corona level again. Sixt is benefiting more from the market recovery than the competition and is gaining market share at home and abroad, said Co-CEO Konstantin Sixt. At the same time, cheap offers that are not economically viable have disappeared from the market.
First station opened in Canada
Sixt continues to expect high prices and high demand over the summer and also in the fourth quarter. The annual turnover should increase significantly, the annual profit before taxes should amount to almost 480 million euros. However, for the last few months of the year there is considerable uncertainty in view of the economic development in Europe and the USA, and the production problems of the car manufacturers remain challenging. Sixt expects new growth impulses in Canada, where the first branch was opened in Vancouver in July.
On the stock exchange, Sixt shares, which had risen by 30 percent since the beginning of July, fell by around five percent on Wednesday. Analysts said the numbers are solid, but the outlook is no longer a surprise.
Sixt now has 7,300 employees again and wants to surpass the pre-corona figure of 8,100 employees by the end of the year. Wages have been increased significantly, “we are looking everywhere”, including in Germany, said Alexander Sixt.
Source: Stern
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.
