![AALG prepares for post-Brexit aftermarket](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AALG-logo.png)
AALG prepares for post-Brexit aftermarket
The Automotive Aftermarket Liaison Group (AALG) has positioned itself to lobby on European issues that affect the aftermarket in a post-Brexit Britain and has an official launch on Tuesday 23 May at Silverstone race track.
Continue ReadingApollo Tyres: Net profit down 16.1% in last quarter
The Board of Directors of Apollo Tyres Ltd has recommended a dividend payout of 300 per cent, or Rs 3 per share, after approving the company’s financial results for the 2016-17 financial year. Total revenues for the 12-month period ending 31 March 2017 increased 10.9 per cent to Rs 143.2 billion (£1.7 billion), while consolidated revenue came to Rs 130.6 billion (£1.6 billion). Net profit declined 2.1 per cent to Rs 11.0 billion (£131.5 million).
Continue ReadingMoU implemented: Marangoni sells solid tyre businesses to Onyx
The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Marangoni Group and Onyx Group in January has now been finalised. With the transaction’s execution, the UAE-based company has acquired all shares in four Marangoni S.p.A. solid tyre businesses. The manufacture of solid tyres will continue at the Marangoni S.p.A. plant in Roverto, Italy, under an off-take agreement with Onyx.
Continue Reading![New UK headquarters for Goodyear Dunlop](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Overbury-Goodyear-Reception.jpg)
New UK headquarters for Goodyear Dunlop
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK has moved to a new headquarters near Solihull. The 26,498-square foot ‘GDHQ’ office is located in the Birmingham Business Park and houses the tyre maker’s sales and marketing teams for its five brands – Goodyear, Dunlop, Fulda, Sava and HiQ – as well as a research and development centre for the Dunlop motorsport business.
Continue Reading![New headquarters for Toyo Tire](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/toyo-hq.jpg)
New headquarters for Toyo Tire
Towards the end of this month, Toyo Tire & Rubber will move into a new headquarters building. The Japanese manufacturer will relocate some ten miles, from Nishi-ku, Osaka to Itami, Hyogo. The move will take place on Sunday 28 May and see Toyo housed in a new six-storey building next to the company’s Tire Technical Center. Operations at the new headquarters will begin the next day.
Continue ReadingMRF Ltd announces results for year ending 31 March 2017
Indian tyre maker MRF Limited reports income of Rs 150.1 billion (£1.8 billion) for the 12 months to 31 March 2017. Net profit for the year came to Rs 14.5 billion (£174.6 million), and the company’s Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 54 per share.
Continue ReadingTitan International increases sales, reduces net loss in Q1 2017
After 18 quarters of year-on-year declines in a row, Titan International has reported a rise in net sales during the first quarter of 2017. During the three months to 31 March, net sales increased 11.1 per cent to US$357.5 million. A loss was still recorded in the bottom line, however the $10.5 million net loss applicable to common shareholders for the first quarter of 2017 was a 41.4 per cent improvement compared with the first quarter of 2016.
Continue Reading![Apollo Tyres opens €475 million greenfield Hungarian plant](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/apollo-5.jpg)
Apollo Tyres opens €475 million greenfield Hungarian plant
The opening of Apollo Tyres’ Gyöngyöshalász plant, 100km east of Budapest, marks a significant event for both the company’s global aspirations and the Indian tyre industry – the 72 hectare greenfield factory, begun in April 2015, is the first inaugurated by an Indian tyre company to come online outside the domestic market. The importance was reflected in the event itself, with some of the plant’s cavernous warehousing housing around 1,300 guests, among whose number was the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who declared Apollo’s sixth global tyre manufacturing plant – its second in Europe after the existing Netherlands facility acquired alongside Vredestein – open on 7 April.
Continue Reading![Re-globalisation of the international tyre market?](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1280px-Container_ship_CSCL_Venus_of_the_China_Shipping_Line_outgoing_Hamburg_in_April_2014.png)
Re-globalisation of the international tyre market?
In the last few weeks, Apollo has initiated production at its new Hungary tyre factory and launched a brand new European truck tyre range (see Company News section pages 32 – 24); Doublestar has confirmed that it is the only remaining bidder in the race for 42 per cent of Kumho Tire (see pages 36 - 37); and as we went to press, Finnish tyre maker Nokian announced that it will build its third production plant, this time in the USA. All this points to what we might call a re-globalisation trend. Rather than businesses from the large so-called developed nations expanding around the globe, this second wave of international expansion sees the roles reversing to some extent. While before the Western nations were looking to invest in fast-growing “emerging” economies, now the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and large companies in what used to be called the BRIC nations are investing in more developed tyre markets.
Continue ReadingHankook Tire profits down in Q1 2017
Hankook Tire has reported sales of KRW 1639.2 billion (£1.1 billion) in the first quarter of 2017, an 0.8 per cent increase on its first quarter sales a year earlier. The Korean tyre maker attributes this slight rise in sales to strong volume growth in most regions, and to the “impressive” sales performance of its ultra-high performance tyres; sales of these products grew 1.4 per cent year-on-year (sales were up 11 per cent year-on-year in Europe and 26 per cent in China) and accounted for 36.7 per cent of total sales generated in Q1 2017.
Continue Reading![Bridgestone UK launches Olympic sponsorship campaign](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bridgestone-Ambassadors-Poster.jpg)
Bridgestone UK launches Olympic sponsorship campaign
Bridgestone has launched its extended worldwide Olympic Partnership in the UK with a national campaign focused on “putting some emotion” into its brand marketing, according to the manufacturer’s representatives. In order to achieve this, the world’s largest tyre maker has adopted the campaign slogan “Chase Your Dream, No Matter What”, with three British Olympians who have overcome different kinds of adversity representing this ethos.
Continue ReadingBluestar Silicones to raise prices
Noting that the silicones industry is “going through a period of transformation, with structural and regulatory changes being announced almost daily,” Bluestar Silicones has announced price increases from ten per cent upwards. The new pricing will be implemented from the second quarter of this year onward.
Continue ReadingNokian to invest $360 million in new US tyre factory
Nokian Tyres’ board of directors has authorized its management to sign a letter of intent with the respective authorities to build a new tyre manufacturing facility in America. The new greenfield factory will be located in Dayton (Rhea County), Tennessee, USA. It will concentrate on the production of passenger, SUV and light truck tyres that are sold exclusively or primarily in the North American market. The annual capacity of the factory will be 4 million tyres with an expansion potential in the future. About 400 people are expected to be employed.
Continue ReadingCooper Tire: Raw material costs deflate profit in Q1 2017
Although its revenues remained at roughly the same level as a year earlier, Cooper Tire & Rubber experienced a 46.2 per cent year-on-year drop in operating profit during the first quarter of 2017. The largest contributor to this unfavourable result was raw material costs which, net of price and mix, removed $42 million from the result.
Continue Reading![Goodyear providing tyres, support to Istanbul New Airport project](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/istanbul.jpg)
Goodyear providing tyres, support to Istanbul New Airport project
When completed, Istanbul New Airport will be the largest airport in the world. At this point in time, however, the future airport is a 7,650-hectare building site, and Goodyear reports it is supplying tyres and support to more than 3,000 construction vehicles currently at work there.
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