Dear Avis stakeholder
Q1 performance in line with expectations
Avis Rent-A-Car in Southern Africa and Scandinavia both continued to produce
double-digit growth in rental days in the quarter to June. Market
conditions in Norway and Scandinavia remained reasonably positive, while the
flow of inbound tourism to Southern Africa was above expectations and
appears to be building up to an excellent summer season. While rentals days
grew at a satisfactory rate in South Africa, revenue per rental day
continued to lag that of the previous year, largely because of the local
industry's unfavourable rate structure for inbound business. A new and more
rational structure will come into effect at the beginning of November, in
time for the market's seasonal peak, and this should have a significantly
beneficial effect on our performance in the second half of the year. With
another steady contribution from Avis Fleet Services and a South African
used-car market that continues to show strength, the group is on track to
meet its forecast of real earnings growth for the year to March 2002.
New MD for Avis Fleet Services
Laurence Savage, who previously headed Avis Enterprises, has been appointed
as managing director of Fleet Services in succession to Kugen Naidoo, who
has left the group. One of Laurence's main areas of focus will be the roll-
out of new, value-added fleet management products capable of being precisely
tailored to specific requirements thanks to their flexibility and modular
components. In addition, he will be looking at driving down costs further.
Identifying and exploiting group synergies
The group as a whole also continues to focus on cost-sharing opportunities
which exist in back office overheads of the group operations. The recent
appointment of a group IT manager is intended to facilitate this process.
EAME conference
Avis Southern Africa will be hosting the annual conference of Avis's Europe,
Africa and Middle East region in October this year. This is the first
time Southern Africa is the venue for this event, which draws some 350
delegates from 55 countries, and we intend to make it a major showcase not
only for our own operations but also for the region's great tourism
potential.
The Brand Ambassador workshop process
This year has seen the implementation of our Avis Brand Ambassador workshop
process, designed to help our staff to make the Avis vision - to exceed
customer expectations at every interface - a reality. On an average
working day there are probably more than 10 000 direct interactions between
our employees and our customers. That represents more than 10 000
opportunities for our people to live up to the brand promise, or to let it
down. The Brand Ambassador workshop shows everyone how our personal
behaviour makes a real difference to the company's perception by the market,
and through self-realisation helps us to get it right. Almost half of all
employees have already attended a workshop and, judging by the results so
far, it is proving a very effective way of embedding the We Try Harder ethos
as a way of life at every level of the company.
Interim results
The group's results for the six months to September will be published in
early November, when we shall give a complete picture of Avis's performance
in the first six months of the year and its prospects for the second half.
Yours sincerely
Grenville Wilson
Chief Executive
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
