Upturn in housebuilding to sustain UK OTR growth – KRT

A leading UK distributor of OTR tyres has predicting sustained growth in the segment as the construction sector rallies with improved UK economy. Since the financial crash of 2008 the aftermarket OTR tyre sector has suffered from a severely contracted end-user market. House building, often seen as a barometer of the health of the sector, saw starts falling to record low levels and other major developments have been put on ice. Kings Road Tyres (KRT) says the upturn in domestic construction activity will support sales growth in its OTR tyre brands.

According to Tim Bader, group operations manager for KRT, the signs for 2015 and beyond are looking optimistic as the UK construction sector continues its recovery. “In 2012-13 England had the lowest house building rates since 1923, with just 108,190 homes completed. But in January this year housebuilding rose at the fastest rate in more than a decade, boosted by growing demand for new homes and improving confidence.”

The expansion of housing activity was the largest since November 2003, while commercial and civil engineering output both increased sharply during January. Overall construction output grew at the sharpest rate since August 2007. According to industry statistics form the Home Builders Federation, at least 220,000 new homes are needed each year to meet household projections. Even getting close to that figure would represent a huge upswing compared to performance over the last decade.

“We are definitely starting to see the effects of a more buoyant market with sales of our exclusive Maxam mid-range and Aeolus tyres moving ahead, compared to the last couple of years. We are a long way from a boom market just yet, and customers continue to look for real value for money when they do purchase, but we are confident that a continued economic recovery will be the key factor in the OTR tyre market starting to move forward,” adds Bader.

KRT supplies products for a full range of OTR applications, including dump trucks, loaders, graders, scrapers, high speed cranes and other specialist equipment used in construction, civil engineering, house building, mining and port equipment through its Maxam and Aeolus ranges.