![Continental’s tyre business achieves 19.2% EBIT margin in Q1](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/q1-conti.jpg)
Continental’s tyre business achieves 19.2% EBIT margin in Q1
Continental Corporation is increasing its sales forecast for the current fiscal year from about €38.5 billion to more than €39 billion after its sales climbed 14 per cent year-on-year to €9.6 billion and net income rose 12 per cent to €657 million in the first three months of this year.
Continue Reading![Quality and good partnerships key to Silverline’s success](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/silverline.jpg)
Quality and good partnerships key to Silverline’s success
One of the best-known firms in the UK’s 4x4 and SUV aftermarket is Silverline Wheels and Tyres. In addition to stocking major tyre brands and the Atturo SUV and 4x4 range, the Warwick-based company supplies rims designed for the finest British and European off-road vehicles and worn by ‘big iron’ imports from the USA. Silverline has created such a name for itself in this niche market that it’s hard to believe it began there by chance.
Continue Reading![MWSD preparing to take wheel messages onto European markets](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/John-Ellis-web.jpg)
MWSD preparing to take wheel messages onto European markets
Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD) achieved vindication for its wheel safety message at European level when the component was named as a “safety critical item” in European law within the Roadworthiness Package. The issue – in this case the potentially unchecked fatigue caused to commercial vehicle wheels by being fitted to unsuitable hubs – is not considered over now that provision has been made in European law. “It’s made changes – real changes – out there, there’s no doubt about it,” Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD) managing director John Ellis tells Tyres & Accessories. “There’s a commercial side to everything, but there is a real debate going on now, and that hasn’t even started in Europe yet.”
Continue Reading![Michelin to capitalise on Blackcircles.com, ATS Euromaster ‘synergies’](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Florent-Menegaux_biography.jpg)
Michelin to capitalise on Blackcircles.com, ATS Euromaster ‘synergies’
Michelin chief operating officer, Florent Menegaux told Tyres & Accessories that the manufacturer would promote synergies with ATS Euromaster following its acquisition of Blackcircles.com. Speaking to Tyrepress following the announcement of its £50 million purchase, Michelin’s chief operating officer said that the UK’s biggest online tyre retail operation would gain “access to ATS Euromaster branches in the UK”, which numbered 343 in the recent T&A survey of the retail landscape.
Continue ReadingMagna Tyres adds a further distributor in Germany
Following news in March that it had entered into a relationship with German wholesaler Reifen Helm, Magna Tyres now reports that as of May 2015 it operates a strategic alliance with wholesaler Reifen Lorenz. This regional wholesaler, like Reifen Helm, is considered an “ideal partner” for the further expansion of Magna Tyres’ OTR activities in Germany. Reifen Lorenz will distribute both the Magna brand and the new MTP range of OTR tyres.
Continue Reading![Goodyear dissolving agreement with German workforce – a prelude to redundancies or plant closures?](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Goodyear-Philippsburg.jpg)
Goodyear dissolving agreement with German workforce – a prelude to redundancies or plant closures?
According to Germany’s Osthessen News, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany GmbH intends to rescind the contract it holds with 7,500 German employees. The contract, which has been in force for 17 years and renegotiated four times during this period, guaranteed the retention of the company’s seven sites in Germany and protection from business-related redundancies. Ines Sauer, Works Council chair at Goodyear Dunlop’s Fulda facility, told Osthessen News that she and the German operation’s Central Works Council were informed of Goodyear Dunlop’s plans to end the contract late last month.
Continue ReadingEastwood Tyres acquisition extends Camoplast Solideal’s Asia Pacific footprint
Camoplast Solideal Inc. has acquired New Zealand-based distributor Eastwood Tyres. The deal, Camoplast Solideal’s first bricks and mortar venture in the country, sees it assume immediate responsibility of the Eastwood facility in Auckland, including all staff, inventory, receivables, and equipment.
Continue Reading![Michelin buys Blackcircles.com for £50 million](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MW1.png)
Michelin buys Blackcircles.com for £50 million
Michelin has bought Blackcircles.com, the number one internet tyre sales company in the United Kingdom, for £50 million. Based in Edinburgh, Blackcircles.com generated £28 million in revenue in 2013. Run by Mike Welch, its founder, Blackcircles.com has enjoyed growth of around 20 per cent per annum since 2008. The company reports that the first quarter of 2015 saw the company achieve revenues 34 per cent higher than Q1 2014.
Continue ReadingDelticom: Tirendo’s business concept not successful
At Delticom’s Annual General Meeting in Germany yesterday, shareholders were informed that the online tyre retailer would distribute a dividend of € 0.25 per share for the 2014 financial year – only half that of the previous year. This smaller dividend particularly reflected a three-quarter drop in net profit – a decline “mainly due to the higher cost base after the Tirendo acquisition.” Andreas Prüfer, head of the company’s board of management, also told shareholders that the Tirendo business concept “of achieving 50 per cent or 100 per cent growth in the online tyre market through high advertising and personnel expenses did not prove successful.”
Continue ReadingApollo Tyres expanding Chennai TBR capacity over next 12 months
A report published by The Financial Express yesterday claims Apollo Tyres will implement the previously announced production capacity expansion at its factory in Chennai over the coming year. According to Satish Sharma, president of the tyre maker’s Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa business, the planned boost in the plant’s truck and bus radial capacity from 6,000 to 9,000 tyres per day will cost Apollo Rs 15 billion (£155.6 million). Passenger car tyre capacity in Chennai will remain at current levels for the time being.
Continue ReadingSumitomo Rubber Australia opens – direct tyre distribution begins
On 30 April, Sumitomo Rubber Industries held an opening ceremony for Sumitomo Rubber Australia Pty. Ltd., its new tyre sales corporation in Australia. Sumitomo Rubber Australia was founded in December 2014 as a joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation (SRI holds a 75 per cent equity share), and it began operating in March 2015.
Continue Reading![GT Radial launches Champiro FE1 in Tuscany](https://www.tyrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FE1-car.jpg)
GT Radial launches Champiro FE1 in Tuscany
The Tuscan hills south of Montepulciano during an unusually warm and sunny spring are an idyllic setting for most occasions. Yet the choice of location for the official launch of GT Radial’s Champiro FE1 passenger car tyre was more significant than just as one of the world’s most picturesque places. The tyre is designed to tackle what Fabio Pecci-Boriani (senior product marketing manager – PCR, Giti Tire) described as “one of the most important market sectors – 15-17”, H-W speed rated, 50-65 series.” Positioned as an all-round premium passenger car tyre for C and D vehicles (including such bestsellers as the Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 308 and Kia Cee’d) the tyre now has more than 95 per cent coverage of its target sector, following the introduction of nine new sizes (the FE1 was first (soft) launched in 2014).
Continue ReadingCooper Tire completes fuel efficient tyre project, exceeds targets
Tyre development teams at Cooper Tire & Rubber have exceeded the goals set for it under a US government project, the tyre maker reports. These results were in part achieved by utilising materials that Cooper says are not used in tyres currently available on the market. Looking forward, the various technologies developed during the project will be put together in a single concept tyre, and Cooper is evaluating the use of technologies in commercial applications.
Continue ReadingContinental Q1 2015 sales up 14% to €9.6 billion
While Continental will present its figures for the first quarter of 2015 on Thursday, the company has already published some details of what it calls a “positive start” to the year. In the three months to 31 January, the tyre maker and automotive supplier’s sales rose 14 per cent year-on-year to around €9.6 billion. Adjusted EBIT increased to approximately €1 billion. Integration costs and one-time expenses for Veyance of €37 million had a negative effect on the company results in the first quarter.
Continue ReadingElgi Rubber buys US machinery producer
India’s Elgi Rubber Co. Ltd has acquired US retreading equipment manufacturer American Equipment Manufacturing Inc., a firm better known in the market as Cincinnati Retreading/Reclamation Systems; CRS was established in 1975 as a division of American Equipment Manufacturing. The Aztec (New Mexico) headquartered firm is primarily known for its buffing machines, which are produced in the CRS factory in Fairfield (Ohio). According to media reports, Elgi Rubber intends to further expand the facility.
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