An olive branch to staff? Elliott Goodyear proposals don’t cut jobs
While Goodyear executives’ latest financial results include plans for a brand review and additional cost-cutting measures, the way forward suggested by one of the company’s largest shareholders apparently doesn’t include further job cuts: “For the avoidance of doubt, we are not calling for any reductions in plant capacity or factory workforce” Elliott Investment Management wrote in the 11 May 2023 letter.
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Petlas invests $360m in new tyre production facility
Petlas will invest $360 million in the construction of a new light vehicle tyre production facility adjacent to the Turkish company’s existing plant in Kırşehir. The new production line will produce 100,000 tons of tyres for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, increasing the manufacturer’s total capacity by 42 per cent, reaching 340,000 tons. It will create around 1,850 new roles. Petlas expects to break ground on the new factory in 2023, with completion slated for 2024-25.
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Goodyear has underperformed by 143% over 10 years – Elliott
The specifics of Elliot Investment Management’s explosive open letter to the Goodyear board reveal that one of the company’s largest shareholders believes “Goodyear has underperformed by 90 per cent over the past five years and 143 per cent over the past ten years” relative to the S&P 400. And relative to proxy peers, key competitors and relevant indices such as the Dow Auto Parts Index, the story of underperformance is similar”.
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Goodyear investor calls for wholesale board changes
Elliott Investment Management L.P., which holds around 10 per cent of The Goodyear Rubber & Tire Company shares, has published an open letter sent to Goodyear’s board of directors expounding on its “deep conviction in the opportunity for Goodyear to improve after more than a decade of underperformance”. Not only are Elliotts calling for five changes to the board, but they have set up a website (acceleratinggt.com) detailing plans to overhaul the business. Shares jumped 17% at the time of publication in response to the news.
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Nokian Tyres breaks ground on Romania factory
Nokian Tyres has initiated work on its Oradea, Romania passenger car tyre factory, billed as the tyre industry’s first zero CO2 emission plant. An event marking the groundbreaking was attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă. The President of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan, and other high-level Romanian and Finnish officials also participated along with the chair of Nokian Tyres’s board of directors Jukka Hienonen. The first tyres are estimated to be produced in the second half of 2024. Commercial tyre production is expected to start in early 2025.
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The benefits of multilingualism in the tyre and wheel business
The transport industry is constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of businesses and consumers around the world. Technological advancements in areas like automation, electric vehicles, and data analytics are transforming the way we move goods and people, while global trade and e-commerce continue to drive demand for transportation services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on the industry, leading to disruptions in supply chains and changes in consumer behaviour. Despite these challenges, the transport industry remains a vital component of the global economy, connecting businesses and individuals across borders and driving economic growth.
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Linglong EV OE reaches more than 6 million in 2022
In 2022, Linglong Tire’s revenue was 17 billion yuan (approximately £1.94 billion; €2.24 billion). Within that, Linglong achieved a revenue of 16.73 billion yuan (about £1.91 billion; €2.2 billion) specifically from tyres. Linglong balanced its domestic and overseas businesses but the revenue brought in by domestic trade was slightly higher. The company’s tyre sales in China reached 8.55 billion yuan, and its export and overseas sales reached 8.18 billion yuan.
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Manchester City extends Nexen Tire partnership
Nexen Tire has signed a fourth partnership agreement with Manchester City Football Club. If the official photo can be trusted, the latest multi-year deal extends to 2026 and thus covers the two parties’ tenth anniversary together.
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Pirelli becomes Goodwood Festival of Speed tyre partner
Pirelli is the new exclusive tyre partner to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, replacing the five-year agreement with Michelin that concluded in 2022. Amongst other highlights, at this year’s Festival the Italian brand will preview three new P Zero tyres that mark the “imminent renewal of Pirelli’s entire high-end range.”
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Jiangsu General to build joint-venture tyre factory in Baotou, Inner Mongolia
On 5 May, Jiangsu General announced plans to build a tyre plant in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, China. The total investment is about 1.51 billion yuan (about £170 million; €200 million). After completion, it will produce 1.2 million all-steel radial truck tyres and 100,000 OTR tyres per year. Jiangsu General says it is “the first modern tyre factory in Baotou City”.
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Enviro share issue funding JV, operations
Scandinavian Enviro Systems has raised SEK 300 million (£23.4 million) via a directed share issue and intends to use 75% of this to acquire shares in the previously announced, Michelin-supported joint venture with Antin Infrastructure Partners and to finance the JV’s first plant. The remaining 25% will finance Enviro’s operations for at least 24 months.
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Sentury Tire registers business in Morocco
On 27 April 2023, Qingdao Sentury Tire officially registered its planned new tyre production and sales operation, Sentury Tire Morocco. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sentury (Hong Kong) Trading Co., Ltd. With an investment of US$296.78 million, Sentury Tire intends to set up a plant in Tangiers with the capacity to manufacture 6 million car and light truck tyres annually.
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General Tire joins British Basketball to deliver slam dunk showstopper
General Tire has partnered with The British Basketball League to deliver a first-of-its-kind basketball dunk competition at the top of The O2. The “Now You Know” Dunk Challenge, supported by General Tire, aims to build excitement in the countdown to the play-off finals later this month.
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Goodyear warehouse closure: 15 job cuts, or almost 300?
According to an article published by our German sister site, Reifenpresse.de, the number of job losses through the closure of Goodyear’s warehouse in Philippsburg, Germany may be significantly more than the 15 jobs that the tyre maker mentioned last week. Since 1 January 2020, the facility has been operated by third-party firm Geis Tyre Warehousing GmbH, which also operates other warehouses for Goodyear in Germany and Luxembourg. Geis Tyre Warehousing told Reifenpresse.de that it currently employs almost 300 people in Philippsburg.
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Goodyear: Steps towards Cooper integration synergies “successfully completed”
In April we took an in-depth look at the progress of the Goodyear-Cooper integration, roughly two years after the acquisition was announced (see ‘Mission “successfully completed”? The Goodyear-Cooper integration and its contradictions’, Tyres & Accessories, April 2023). Now, in parallel with the publication of the company’s first-quarter 2023 financial results, executives have sought to answer those questions with the publication of a “Cooper Tire Integration Update” on 4 May 2023. In short, the update states that “the combination has significantly strengthened [Goodyear’s] leadership position in the global tyre industry” and that the “results of the integration were better than expected when the deal closed in June 2021”. However, Goodyear has also been significantly loss-making for the last two quarters and admitted during the first-quarter 2023 results that it is being forced to review its burgeoning brand portfolio in light of its negative fiscal position.
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