Investing.com -- Shares in Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE:HTZ) ticked up in after-hours trading, even as the major rental car company reported a wider-than-expected loss last quarter.
During the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2016, reported an adjusted net loss of $52 million or 0.12 per share, down from adjusted net profits of $2 million or 0.00 per share over the same period a year earlier. It came as the company's worldwide car rental average fleet fell by 4% and the company's adjusted corporate EBITDA fell to $155 million, representing a decline of $71 million on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expected to see adjusted EPS of 0.12 on revenue of $2.31 billion.
On a positive note, Hertz achieved cost savings of approximately $70 million on the period, which the company believes serves as a reflection of its margin improvement plan over the next three to five years. In addition, Hertz said customer satisfaction, as measured by its Net Promoter Score survey, increased more than five points on the quarter, amid gains among its Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty bands.
"During the first quarter, we followed through on our plans to bring fleet levels in line with expected demand in the U.S. market and saw a significant improvement in our fleet efficiency as a result. Though industry pricing decreased more than we anticipated, we mitigated the impact on our performance by continuing to lower our costs, which resulted in a 5% reduction in unit cost in our worldwide rental car business in the quarter," said John Tague, Hertz president and chief executive officer.
"We are encouraged by recent pricing trends as we move into the peak season, as well as by rising customer satisfaction across the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands year-over-year. The improvement was led by the Hertz brand, which reached a record for customer satisfaction on a worldwide basis."
Moving forward, Hertz said it expects cost savings to accelerate in the second quarter due to the timing of a bevy of cost-reduction initiatives. Hertz reiterated its full-year guidance of adjusted earnings per share of 0.95-1.10, in line with analysts' expectations of 0.96.
Shares in Hertz rose 0.15 or 1.71% to 8.90 in after-hours.