Avis Budget reported a $121 million net loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, a period when the company's revenue from vehicle rentals fell 11%, to $954 million.
"The company faced an unprecedented set of challenging conditions in the fourth quarter, as both leisure and commercial volumes declined significantly, the value of used vehicles dropped precipitously, and both contributed to sharply lower year-over-year pricing," said Avis Budget CEO Ronald Nelson.
"These three items alone — volume, fleet and pricing — resulted in a year-over-year variance in excess of $100 million, and were largely responsible for our disappointing results."
A $22 million restructuring charge, related to the elimination of 2,100 jobs, deepened the company's Q4 loss.
For the year, Avis Budget reported a net loss of $1.12 billion, compared with a $916 million net loss in 2007.
During both years, Avis Budget was hit with non-cash impairment charges because of the declining value of assets.
