Bridgestone Q3 punctuated by growth

Results for the third quarter of 2011 show across the board year-on-year improvements at Bridgestone. During the June to September period, the Japanese company achieved sales of 775.3 billion yen (£6.2 billion), a 9.9 per cent improvement over the same three months of 2010. Operating income reached 49.7 billion yen (£396.9 million) in the quarter, reflecting year-on-year growth of 42.4 per cent, while operating profit margin rose from 4.9 per cent to 6.4 per cent. Net income, at 27.8 billion yen (£222.0 million), was up 25.2 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2010.

The company’s tyre business made net sales of 648.8 billion yen (£5.2 billion), 83.7 per cent of the group total and up 11.2 per cent on third quarter 2010 sales. Tyre segment operating profit rose 38.3 per cent year-on-year to 46.2 billion yen (£369.9 million) in the third quarter while operating profit margin increased from 5.7 per cent Q3, 2010 to 7.1 per cent. Geographically speaking, Bridgestone made 110.3 billion yen (£881.0 million) worth of sales in Europe in the third quarter, 14.2 per cent of the global total and 17.2 per cent more than in the third quarter of 2010. European operating profit came to 6.7 billion yen (£53.5 million) while the year-on-year operating profit margin rose from 2.5 per cent to 6.1 per cent.