Bridgestone Predicts Breakeven Net Income

Bridgestone, reports Bloomberg, has reduced its full year prediction to breakeven in line with continuing vehicle sales declines. The manufacturer had previously set its net income forecast at 3 billion yen (£19.1 billion), but in a statement delivered to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the company suggested that the global recession has driven down demand for new vehicles and with it the need for OE tyres. Therefore the company went through with its May promise to revise its targets, concluding that it will sell fewer units in Japan, Europe and America.

However, cost reduction programmes and declining raw materials prices mean that, for the first half of the year, Bridgestone now predicts a loss of 46 billion yen, 16 billion less than the original forecast of a 62 billion yen loss.