Bridgestone profit up 4.4% in Q1 2017

For the three months to 31 March 2017, Bridgestone Corporation reports net sales of 851.9 billion yen (£5.8 billion), 3.2 per cent more than in the first quarter of 2016. Operating income decreased 5.0 per cent year-on-year to 103.1 billion yen (£698.8 million) with an operating margin of 12.1 per cent, and ordinary income was down 6.4 per cent to 96.9 billion yen (£656.8 million), decreases Bridgestone says occurred in part due to increases in raw material costs. Profit attributable to owners of parent amounted to 59.2 billion yen (£401.2 million) during the first quarter of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 4.4 per cent.

First quarter net sales for Bridgestone’s tyre segment came to 707.9 billion yen (£4.8 billion), an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous year’s result. Operating income was down 4.8 per cent to 95.6 billion yen (£647.9 million), with operating margin at 13.5 per cent. Reporting the tyre segment’s performance for each region, Bridgestone states that unit sales of car and light commercial vehicle tyres “increased strongly” year-on-year in Europe, and unit sales of truck and bus tyres also exceeded those of Q1 2016. Unit sales for both product areas were also up year-on-year in Japan, China and the Asia Pacific region, while in the Americas a strong increase in truck and bus tyre unit sales was paired with stable unit sales of car and light truck tyres.

Full details of Bridgestone’s Q1 2017 performance can be found in the Tyrepress.com company profiles and reports section.