(Alliance News) - Sicily by Car Spa reported Wednesday that performance for the first six months of 2024 shows rental revenues in Italy down about 7 percent compared to the first six months of the previous year, with a continuation of the reduction in revenue per day not adequately offset by the 9.3 percent increase in rental days.

The downward trend comes amid a market environment characterized by a large number of new entrants, managing an average of 500 to 2,000 cars, with the main international listed peers setting the pace sharply in the first months of the year.

At the sales channel level, the result for the first six months was negatively affected by the performance of the Intermediate channel, which suffered from strong competitive pressure on the average daily rental rate while the B2B and direct B2C business channels showed positive dynamics.

The average fleet, amounting to more than 12,000 cars, appears to be substantially in line compared to the first six months of 2023 while, in the first six months of 2024, the fleet utilization rate at 62.4 percent appears to be sharply up from the 56.8 percent average value as of June 30, 2023, as a result of the increase in rental days.

As for the changes that occurred in the owned fleet, more than 1,250 vehicles were sold in the first six months of the year, an increase of nearly 20% compared to 2023. The countervalue obtained in the first six months of 2024 was EUR10.4 million, up 15 percent over the same period 2023, including more than EUR2.5 million in realized capital gains in the period, up 90 percent over 2023.

Likewise, 538 vehicles were acquired in the owned fleet, with a countervalue of EUR9.8 million, down sharply from EUR46 million in the same period of 2023.

Finally, at the balance sheet level, the company's Net Financial Position remained largely positive during the reporting period.

In light of this, the company does not expect any growth in the value of production in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous period, even including the positive effects of the consolidation of operations in Croatia and higher capital gains on car disposals.

Sicily by Car shares closed Wednesday up 0.7 percent at EUR4.65 per share.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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