Car registrations break 2.2 million mark, return to pre-recession levels
Car registration figures for 2013 appear to show that consumer confidence is increasing, with 2,264,737 cars registered in 2013, up 10.8 per cent on 2012. This exceeds the SMMT’s 2.25 million forecast for the year and is the highest annual registration total since 2007. December was the 22nd consecutive monthly rise.
While it is clear that each side is effectively blaming the other for the collapse of the deal, the actual cost of the defunct courtship ritual is somewhat more opaque. We know that Cooper’s lawyers will be defending the firm against claims for the $50 million it agreed in the business equivalent of a pre-nuptial agreement, but several newspapers report that Apollo has to fight off claims for a significantly bigger $112 million break-up fee. And of course none of this puts a price on the large sums of money spent out on corporate lawyers or even more importantly on lost time. So whats next for the two companies?
Sale of Carlisle Transportation Products completed
On 31 December, Carlisle Companies Incorporated announced it had completed the cash sale of Carlisle Transportation Products to American Industrial Partners; an enterprise value of US$375 million was paid for the tyre, wheel and transmission belt manufacturer.
Apollo Tyres has commenced a new corporate advertising campaign in the UK and India that draws on the company’s three-year agreement with Manchester United F.C. for these two markets. The campaign covers television, cinema, print, digital and outdoor mediums and focuses on the shared values of both football club and tyre maker, specifically ‘going the distance to achieve the best’.
On 27 December, Pirelli reported the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Pirelli Tyre Russia, Russian petroleum company Rosneft and Oil Techno; the MoU covers setting up a joint venture to research and develop synthetic rubber, in particular Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR), in Armenia.
On 30 December, Nokian Tyres received the unwelcome news that a reassessment made by Finland’s Tax Administration has determined the company must pay €26.9 million in additional taxes, plus punitive tax increases and interest, for the year 2007. The full amount will be recorded in Nokian’s 2013 financial statement and results. The company says it will appeal the ruling, however should it be upheld Nokian’s corporate tax rate will rise over the next five years to the maximum rate of 22 per cent, rather than to the previously announced 17 per cent.
No deal – Cooper terminates Apollo merger agreement
The curtain has come down on a saga that made tyre industry headlines last year. On 30 December, Cooper Tire & Rubber announced its termination of the merger/acquisition agreement between it and India’s Apollo Tyres. The US tyre maker gave word of its action a day before the agreement was due to expire.
“It is time to move our business forward,” wrote Cooper chairman, chief executive officer and president Roy Armes in a statement. “While the strategic rationale for a business combination with Apollo is compelling, it is clear that the merger agreement both companies signed on June 12 will not be consummated by Apollo and we have been notified that financing for the transaction is no longer available. The right thing for Cooper now is to focus on continuing to build our business.”
The European Institute of Purchasing Management (EIPM) has granted the 2013 EIPM Peter Kraljic Excellence Award for ‘Value Creation – Extended Enterprise’ to steel cord manufacturer Bekaert during the 2013 annual EIPM Purchasing Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Half-century milestone for Lanxess’ Zwijndrecht plant
Lanxess has celebrated 50 years of butyl rubber production at its Zwijndrecht plant in Belgium. Festivities surrounding the milestone were rounded off by a plant visit from board member Rainer van Roessel on 17 December.
Rezulteo claims 10 per cent of tyre internet research
Tyre comparison site Rezulteo.com is claiming record traffic in 2013, with 1 million visits and 875,000 unique users in November – up 68 per cent. This means the firm has attracted a total of 6.4 million unique visitors in 2013 across the 20 countries it operates in – up 56 per cent. According to the company, this equates to 10 per cent of Internet searches performed by tyre buyers in Europe. In addition the website has also announced that it is partnering “Corriere dello Sport” in Italy.
Bridgestone has announced an extension of its existing deal with City of London bus fleet Metroline. The tyre supplier will maintain 500 extra vehicles for the company, one of the city’s biggest public transport providers. The buses operate predominantly in the north west of London, from five different locations. Bridgestone describes the extension of its existing two-year deal, which already involves a ‘full maintenance package’ with 1,200 buses, as “a huge coup for the business”.
Michelin lays foundation stone for R&D centre upgrade
On 16 December, Michelin chief executive officer Jean-Dominique Senard laid the foundation stone for the main building to be built as part of the company’s €270 million upgrade to its research and development facilities at the Ladoux site in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The stone-laying ceremony took place in the presence of members of Michelin’s Executive Committee along with representatives from architects Chaix & Morel and engineering group Ingerop.
TrelleborgAB, parent company of Trelleborg Wheel Systems, and Trelleborg Treasury AB have jointly concluded an agreement regarding an extension of the existing syndicated credit facilities that were established in 2011. The extended credit facilities total €750 million and US$625 million, have a tenor of five years and will mature in December 2018, with an option of extension thereafter for a maximum of two further years.
Three days before Cooper Tire & Rubber’s scheduled appeal hearing, Delaware Supreme Court has dismissed the tyre maker’s appeal. A court filing signed by Justice Randy J. Holland stated that “based upon the filings by the parties, the Court has concluded that this interlocutory appeal was improvidently accepted”, or in other words it shouldn’t have been accepted by the court to start with.
New Year, new prices. As of 1 January, German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess will increase prices for the rubber chemicals supplied by its Rubber Chemicals business units. The company says this move is necessary to offset raw material cost increases expected in the first quarter of 2014.
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