Bridgestone Reports Improved Third Quarter Sales & Net Income

Bridgestone announced its third quarter results on November 1, along with combined results for the first three quarters of the year. These figures revealed a 303.7 billion (£1.28 billion) or 14 per cent increase in net sales for the first nine months of the year, with sales for Q1 to Q3 2007 recorded as 2,466.7 billion yen (£10.36 billion). Operating income increased 32 per cent during the same period, rising to 162.8 billion yen (£683 million), with net income jumping 64 per cent to 82.3 billion yen (£345.6 million).

The company received 1,993 billion yen (£8.37 billion) through the sale of tyres during the first nine months of the year, 16 per cent more than for the same period of 2006. Operating income for Bridgestone’s tyre operation was 123.1 billion yen (£516.9 million), an increase of 44 per cent over 2006. Bridgestone reports that it worked to “maximise sales momentum by introducing appealing new products worldwide, while at the same time improving and expanding strategic production sites around the world in support of those products that have been identified as strategic and important to the company’s future growth.”

Sales in Europe, both for tyres and diversified products, increased by 25 per cent over the first nine months of 2006, with 381.1 billion yen (£1.6 billion) worth of products sold. This increase in sales value, says Bridgestone, was generated in part due to the weaker yen. Unit sales of passenger car and light truck tyres are said to have grown “steadily”, while sales of truck and bus tyres “increased significantly over the previous year’s first three quarters.” Operating income, at 13.4 billion yen (£56.27 million), increase by 18 per cent in Europe.

The company’s report into its third quarter results highlights the persistent upward global trend in the cost of crude oil and other raw materials as a “defining trend of the business environment,” along with overall recovery or expansion in all of the company’s key regional markets. Bridgestone has made no amendments to the consolidated projections it announced on August 9.