Budget Group announces reorganisation of its French locations
Lisle, Illinois (ots-PRNewswire) -
Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE: BD) announced today that it is reorganising its French network of rental locations into major regional franchise territories. Included in the reorganisation is the refranchising of nearly all of the Company's corporate French locations, transforming the country into a ninety percent franchised operation.
Budget Rent a Car International has negotiated agreements with a number of investors, nearly all of whom are current Budget franchisees. These transactions are expected to close throughout April and May. The refranchising represents the second step in the execution of Budget's scale-back strategy to substantially reduce financial and operating risk in Europe. The Company recently completed the sale of its Birmingham and Manchester, England locations to a Budget franchisee.
Jack Frazee, president and chief operating officer of Budget Rent a Car International stated, "This restructuring program mirrors what we have already implemented in the UK and are now starting in other European corporate locations. The investors we have secured for the expanded regional franchises were selected on the basis of their industry expertise, local market knowledge and strong focus on high levels of customer service."
Meanwhile, Budget will retain corporate control of select locations at the Paris and Nice gateway airports, as well as Paris railway stations and downtown locations. In addition, Budget will continue to manage the administration of large corporate accounts and serve the growing international customer base from the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Asia Pacific.
Through the reorganisation, Budget France will also be able to achieve better fleet utilisation and higher levels of service through a more effective management of the business. The strategy will enable Budget France to combine the flexibility offered by a franchise network with the service guarantee of a corporate network.
Budget Group, Inc. owns Budget Rent a Car Corporation and Ryder TRS. Budget is the world's third largest car and truck rental system and Ryder TRS is the nation's second largest consumer truck rental company. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.budget.com .
Statements made in this press release that are not historical in nature may include 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the federal securities laws. It is important to note that these statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Budget Group, Inc.'s actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning such matters is contained in documents filed by the Company with the SEC, all of which are available from the SEC.
Contact:
Media, Allison Striegel,
Phone +1 630-955-7419, or
Investors, Sarah Lewensohn,
Phone +1 630-955-7602,
both of Budget Group, Inc.
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/121583.html or
fax, +1 800-758-5804, ext. 121583
Internet: http://www.budget.com