Branding expert a football sponsorship sceptic
Edward Freedman, the football branding guru who headed up merchandising at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur FC in the late 1980s and 1990s, has questioned the effectiveness of sponsorship from companies such as tyre manufacturers.
Continue ReadingImproved jobs listings on relaunched Tyrepress
Tyrepress launched a new newsletter product in February 2013 aiming to improve the targeted job advertisement opportunities offered by Europe’s leading English language magazine and website for tyre and wheel professionals. The weekly newsletter, which also collates the most recent Career Tracks news every Wednesday, will continue to link to greatly improved listings on the relaunched Tyrepress website, putting advertisers’ job vacancies in front of the widest possible range of European tyre and wheel professionals.
Continue ReadingBridgestone contemplates second Turkish plant
Brisa Bridgestone Sabancı Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (Brisa), the joint venture company run by Bridgestone Corporation and Turkey’s Sabancı Holding, is evaluating potential sites within the country for a second factory. Brisa intends to construct a passenger car radial factory to complement the company’s existing passenger car, bus and truck radial plant in İzmit, which entered volume production in 1990.
Continue ReadingMichelin discusses mid-term targets
At the Autumn Conference organised by Luxembourg-based broker Kepler Cheuvreux and held in Paris on 18 September, Michelin chief executive officer Jean-Dominique Senard confirmed the tyre maker’s 2015 operating profit target of €2.9 billion, some 20 per cent higher then 2013 estimates. He also said that capital expenditure is expected to peak between €1.8 billion and €2.2 billion in 2014 and 2015 before declining to between €1.6 billion and €1.9 billion in 2016 and €1.5 billion and €1.8 billion in 2017.
Continue ReadingSeparate Cooper contracts required before Apollo deal proceeds
As well as needing to sort out issues at the Cooper Chengshan plant, Cooper Tire & Rubber and Apollo Tyres now face an additional barrier to acquisition. Last Friday an arbitrator ruled that Cooper cannot sell its Findlay and Texarkana plants in the US until Apollo secures new collective bargaining agreements with the United Steelworkers union and the 2,500 or so unionised workers at the two factories. This agreement is separate from the existing contract the union has with Cooper Tire.
Continue ReadingBetter integrated Business Directory on relaunched Tyrepress
The relaunch of Tyrepress will also mark the relaunch of the Business Directory service. This feature, which has been available in two incarnations before this vastly improved third generation, enables tyre and wheel related businesses to direct the website’s 240,000 monthly visitors towards their own websites with a range of listings options available for an annual fee; web URLs are also listed in the back of Tyres & Accessories magazine each month, increasing exposure to print readers too. The Tyrepress Business Directory 3.0 is better connected to the rest of the website, with entries searchable alongside articles.
Continue ReadingNew Zeetex website
The Zeetex tyre brand launched a new website on Thursday 12 September 2013. According to the company, the site has been “aesthetically upgraded, is user friendly and boasts of enhanced functionality and dynamic tools”. The goal appears to have been to create a “visually appealing, polished and professional website – which also offers region-specific capabilities.”
Continue ReadingDelticom offered shares as part of Tirendo deal
Following on from the news that Delticom AG purchased fast-growing online tyre retailer Tirendo on 17 September, Delticom executives have also revealed that company’s founders and main shareholders Rainer Binder and Andreas Pruefer also sold around 500,000 Delticom shares to a subsidiary of European Media Holding AG (EMH), which itself is a founding shareholder of Tirendo. In addition EMH was granted options to purchase up to a further 1.6 million shares. Apart from increasing the apparent combined value Delticom attributed to Tirendo, it is also likely to have consequential effects on market pricing.
Continue ReadingTyre tests database a new feature on relaunched Tyrepress
A new feature coming to Tyrepress in the relaunched version of the site is a database of European tyre test results. The feature has been a part of German sister site Reifenpresse.de’s service for some time, and as a result the database offers more than 3,500 tyre test results. Tyrepress editor Chris Anthony says that the feature forms “a key part of our newly updated website.”
Continue ReadingResponsive design improves mobile Tyrepress
In 2012-13 record numbers of visitors to Tyrepress have been accessing the site via tablets and smartphones, and with this trend continuing to grow the relaunched Tyrepress website will offer readers an improved user experience through responsive design. The chief benefit of responsive design will be to resize and rearrange elements of the site automatically to present it in a format better suited to smaller screens – whether this is a 10” iPad, a 7” Nexus 7 or a 4” smartphone – making it easier to read and navigate.
Continue ReadingSchaeffler places 4% Conti shares to reduce debt
Schaeffler Holding and Schaeffler AG have announced that the companies have placed roughly 4 per cent of Continental shares with a range of investors. According to a statement issued by Schaeffler group, net proceeds will be used to pay down debt as well as additional reduction of debt from excess cash flow. However, the company re-affirmed that Continental AG remains a long-term strategic shareholding.
Continue ReadingDelticom buys Tirendo for 50 million euros
Hanover, Germany-based Delticom AG agreed to purchase Tirendo Holding GmbH on 16 September. The leading European online tyre business will purchase all shares in the Berlin-based online tyre retailer and its subsidiaries. According to a statement issued by the companies, the purchase price, including acquired shareholder loans, amounts to roughly 50 million euros.
Continue ReadingNew advertising opportunities a highlight of upcoming Tyrepress relaunch
Many readers of Tyrepress will now be aware of the planned relaunch of the site later in September. While the benefits to readers of the site’s new design will be discussed in articles throughout the week, today we focus on how the new site will enhance the experience of advertisers using Tyrepress’ busy, highly focused traffic as a platform for promotion. “One of the first things we wanted to improve was the choice of adverts available to you, bringing you the best options to suit your particular advertising needs,” explains advertising manager Scott Parker-Copestick.
Continue ReadingAutomotive firms struggle to give consumer style e-commerce experience buyers expect
When it comes to B2B selling online, automotive organisations are struggling to provide the online buying experience that their customers have come to expect. That’s the view published in the 2013 E-commerce Report from Intershop, which also reveals that smartphone usage, social media and the so-called “consumerisation of IT” are driving up B2B customer expectations. The reports advice? Automotive firms have to adapt to changing customer expectations, driven by trends such as smartphone usage and social media.
Continue ReadingTransense reports most successful year yet
Transense Technologies plc, which offers RFID/TPMS chips and equipment, had what it refers to as its most successful year yet in the 12 months ended 30 June 2013. The company reports revenue increased 98 per cent to £1.5 million (2012: £0.765m, 18 months: £1.014 million). During the same period gross profit is said to have increased 140 per cent to £1.02 million (2012: £0.424 million, 18 months: £0.565 million). As a result the company reports that it has a positive cash position at 30 June 2013 of £1.98 million (30 June 2012: £0.195 million).
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