CAR rental giant Avis Europe has announced a wider first-half loss.

The company made a pretax loss of €11.9 million – about £8 million – in the six months to the end of June, compared to a €4.6 million loss in the same period in 2005. Group chief executive Murray Hennessy said: ‘Performance in the second half should improve with continued positive volume trends and the further benefits of our recovery strategy taking effect.’