Cooper Tire & Rubber: Weak Tire Demand to Leave Earnings Short

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it will publish its financial results for the second quarter on July 17, 2003. The company also indicates that it expects those results to fall short of current analyst expectations. “This was a difficult quarter,” said Tom Dattilo, Cooper’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Raw material prices were dramatically higher and overall demand for replacement tyres was weak. The replacement tyre industry remained very soft during the quarter. Although we did see strong improvement in the latter half of June, it was not enough to offset the weakness earlier in the period.

” The Company expects earnings per share to be in the range of 13 to 17 cents. These results include charges of 2 cents for restructuring, 4 cents related to temporary tire plant shutdowns, and a total of 2 cents for a minor accrual adjustment and the write off of certain tooling assets..