Bridgestone Revises 2009 Financial Projections

A number of revisions to Bridgestone Corporation’s consolidated financial projections for 2009 have been announced. Changes to the figures released on November 5, 2009 have been based upon recent performance trends and the company’s assessment of the global economy during the year. After reviewing these two factors, on February 12 Bridgestone announced a revised projected operating income of 75,000 million yen (₤533.9 million), 15,000 million yen higher than its November 5 figure. Ordinary income has been upwardly revised from 29,000 million yen to 54,000 million yen (₤384.5 million) and net income has been revised from a loss of 10,000 million yen to a profit of 1,000 million yen (₤7.1 million). Projected net sales, at 2,590,000 million yen (₤18.4 billion), remain unchanged.

The main reason for the revision to the November 5, 2009 projection, reports Bridgestone, is the impact of significant expense reduction initiatives. The company now forecasts that ordinary income will exceed the previous projection for the same reason, as well as the reclassification of certain expenses from non-operating loss to extraordinary loss. As a result, despite the increase in the company’s extraordinary loss, Bridgestone also forecasts that net income will exceed its previous financial projection.

Bridgestone says it anticipates that the impact of the realignment of its steel cord business, announced February 1, is negligible.