The car rental company Sixt is expecting a loss for the start of the year and wants to reduce its fleet of electrically powered vehicles.

The company announced on Thursday that profit before tax (Ebt) in the first quarter would be between minus EUR 15 and minus EUR 28 million. In the previous year, a profit of 33.3 million euros was still on the books. The main reasons for the meagre consolidated result include higher interest expenses and increased depreciation due to lower residual values.

After used car prices for e-cars came under pressure over the course of last year and customers showed greater interest in vehicles with conventional drive systems, the Pullach-based company intends to further reduce its stock of e-vehicles, for which it bears the residual value risk.

For the 2024 financial year, the Management Board expects a pre-tax profit of between 400 and 520 million euros, which is roughly on a par with the previous year's figure of 464 million euros. In view of the high expected demand and the continued international expansion, Sixt expects significant revenue growth. Sixt will announce further figures for the current financial year on Friday.

(Report by Philipp Krach, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)