Titan’s Taylor Talks About 2009 Goals

A glimpse at what year-end 2008 and 2009 has in store for Titan International has been provided in a company statement by chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Junior. “It has been a remarkable year for Titan and its employees,” noted Taylor. “No one outside of this corporation will ever know how great this team of Titan employees are.

“In the past two months I’ve visited the oil sands, mines, farm equipment dealers, farmers and executives of major farm original equipment manufacturers,” he added. “It’s hard to believe with all the gloom on Wall Street, television and clueless politicians’ commentary that 2009 should be a great year, but that is what I see.”

A year ago Taylor stated that Titan should end 2008 with US$920 million to $1 billion in revenue. In the company’s third-quarter 2008 conference call, he stated the opinion that Titan may actually exceed $1 billion in revenue for the 2008 year. The company chairman and CEO set Titan’s sales revenue goal for 2009 at $1.175 to $1.35 billion. While a large spread, material cost is expected to be down in the second quarter of 2009, lowering pricing. Material cost for the second half of the year could be more unpredictable and may possibly require higher pricing.

“If you were to base this on unit sales, I believe 2009 would show a 20 to 30 per cent growth over 2008,” Taylor said. “Titan’s group presidents Ron Schildt and Bill Campbell will base the year on these goals, all the while striving to maximise them.”

Taylor has set Titan’s EBITDA goal at $170 to $190 million for 2009. Achieving this goal will require what Titan refers to as ‘better efficiency at the company’s tyre facilities’, something that should occur as a result of the completion of the super giant tyre project realignment. Capital expense is also expected to drop after first quarter 2009 due to the completion of the super giant tyre project. Taylor has set Titan’s goal for positive operating cash flow at over $100 million in 2009.

“I appreciate the concern over lower commodity prices and its affect on business, but if you look at these commodity prices, they are still higher than in 2006. So be merry, a new year is coming,” concluded Taylor.