Brisa: Inflation without TPMS

Not so long ago the word ‘inflation’ typically drew thoughts to tyre pressure, at least in our line of work. But the other inflation has made an unwelcome comeback and is eating away at our purchasing power. Over in Turkey, the rate of inflation hit 72 per cent in 2022 and made its presence known in Brisa’s financial results for the year. But against this backdrop of growing Turkish Lira weakness, the tyre maker had a good year.

Sales tonnage at Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci Tyre Manufacturing and Trading remained stable in 2022, decreasing just 0.7 per cent year-on-year to 204,583 tonnes. Domestic sales tonnage rose 3.9 per cent to 130,516 tonnes, including 26,697 tonnes of tyres supplied to OEM customers (-3.0% YoY). Replacement market sales in Turkey amounted to 103,819 tonnes (+5.8% YoY). Brisa’s domestic market performance was thus in line with LMC estimates of four per cent market growth overall in 2022.

Export sales tonnage decreased 7.8 per cent to 74,066 tonnes. This figure includes 25,825 tonnes of Bridgestone tyres (-12.0% YoY) and 48,241 tonnes of Lassa tyres (-5.4% YoY). Despite this, Brisa reports that Lassa Tyres’ market share grew in 23 countries during 2022.

Sales in Turkish Lira

Measured in Turkish Lira, total net sales grew 112.2 per cent year-on-year to TL 14,080.5 million (£623.5 million as of 31 December 2022). Domestic sales rose 123.1 per cent to TL 9,327.9 million (£413.0 million) and export sales were up 93.7 per cent to TL 4,742.6 million (£210.0 million). To separate this result from currency developments, Brisa tells us that when measured in US dollars, export sales were US$317.9 million and grew 9.1 per cent year-on-year rather than ten times as much.

Operating profit was similarly influenced by the lira and increased 210 per cent year-on-year to TL 1,999.9 million (£88.6 million), with a margin up 4.5 percentage points to 14.2 per cent. Net profit grew 98.2 per cent to TL 1,991.2 million (£88.2 million).

Read Brisa’s 2022 Annual Report here.