Bridgestone NZ Running at a Loss Since 2007

Although the announced closure of Bridgestone’s sole manufacturing facility in New Zealand has been understandably met with disappointment by the local industry, records show the tyre major has operated in the red there during the last two years. Information held by the New Zealand government’s Companies Office shows Bridgestone to have experienced a loss of NZ$7.1 million (£3.28 million) on annual revenues of $217 million (£100 million) in the 2008 calendar year. In 2007 the company’s loss amounted to $3.8 million. Indeed, Bridgestone’s bottom line has not seen plus figures in New Zealand since 2006, when its net plus came to $1.2 million.

According to Bridgestone Rubberworkers union secretary Kerry Pearce, the tyre major will pay affected employees full redundancy and holiday entitlements. Workers have a redundancy agreement of seven weeks pay for the first year of employment and two weeks for each following year. Workers at the company’s plant in Australia, scheduled to close in April 2010, will benefit from AU$5.7 million (£3.2 million) in government aid, which has been pledged to help with retraining and job placement.