Leading car rental company Avis Budget Group has announced a narrower 2010 first quarter loss than originally forecast. Aided by increased rental prices and a range of cost-saving initiatives, the New Jersey-based company has said the earnings outlook for the remainder of the year was positive.

Net loss for the group’s first quarter period narrowed to $38 million, the equivalent of $0.37 per share. Profits fell from $49 million, around $0.48 per share, compared to the same period in 2009.

Financial results for the latest quarter included an expense of some $40 million that related to corporate debt wipe-offs worth $1 million in restructuring, while the previous year’s results had included a $6 million investment.

Net loss for the quarter narrowed down to $13 million from a massive $45 million loss in the year-on-year quarter reporting period. Share loss narrowed from $0.13 per share from $0.44 per share in the corresponding period last year. Industry analysts, who were polled by Thomson Reuters, predicted that the company share loss would be around $0.26 per unit. Net revenue fell from $1.19 billion last year to $1.15 billion for the quarter, but still came in marginally below the projected $1.16 billion loss predicted by analysts.

International rental revenue rose by 23 per cent to $201 million – up from $164 in the previous year as the global economic crisis slowly stabilised. This was boosted by a whopping 36 per cent increase in daily rental rates that far outweighed the rental day decline of 10 per cent.