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Large TiWheel Share Trade Under Scrutiny

South Africa’s JSE stock exchange confirmed on July 24 that it was looking into an unusually large trade of Tiger Wheel and Tyre stock in May, and would make a report on the matter to the nation’s Financial Services Board. While it is not yet clear to the JSE whether or not the trade should be considered suspicious, the trading of more than 7 million shares in a single transaction on May 11 – only two weeks before Tiger wheels issued a cautionary announcement – is an event that contrasts markedly with the preceding low trading activity in Tiger Wheels shares.

The cautionary, published on May 30, said the performance of its 74 per cent held global wheel manufacturing business, ATS GmbH, had failed to meet the expectations of the revised performance forecast made to its German financing syndicate in February. However, the JSE reportedly had no knowledge of the May 11 transaction until Business Day, one of South Africa’s leading financial newspapers, brought it to the stock exchange’s attention.

The trading activity in question involved about ten per cent of the company’s 59.6 million shares. It is not clear at this stage whether insider trading is suspected.

25th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Strikes & Wage Negotiations Continue in South Africa

South Africa’s tyre industry strike continued into its third day on Tuesday July 24 while wage negotiations reportedly continued to advance at a snail’s pace. While Tyre Employers’ Association spokesperson Attie Higgs reported that the parties involved had made progress on several non-wage demands, negotiations on wage related issues had not budged, with the “same position” being maintained on both sides.

While unions are demanding a 10 per cent wage rise, tyremakers Dunlop, Continental and Goodyear are prepared to offer an increase of 7.5 per cent, while Bridgestone’s carrot is a 7 per cent wage rise. National Union of Metalworkers South Africa spokesperson Mziwakhe Hlangani said “we want to force employers to improve their offer because the industry has been reporting good profits over the past three years. We are hopeful of a significant wage increase.” Such claims of industry growth are refuted by Higgs, who countered with the argument that during the past three to four years the local industry’s market share had been diminished by the presence of imported tyres.

25th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sameer Seeks Government Subsidies

Kenya based Sameer Africa Ltd has asked the Kenyan government to provide subsidies to local manufacturers so they can counter rising energy costs and remain competitive. The manufacturer of Yana brand tyres has made this call following government requests to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) to transfer some of their production to off peak times in which there is lower demand for electricity.

Sameer Africa’s chairman, Naushad Meralli, believes high energy costs are a large contributor to local manufacturers’ diminishing competitiveness. “This increased costs will diminish our ability to compete effectively domestically and in the export markets, which are also attractive to our competitors with lower power costs,” he said.

24th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire on Track Again to Fight Malaria in Africa

Legendary adventurer, Kingsley Holgate, and Cooper Tire have linked up once again to begin another epic humanitarian mission across the African continent, in the continuing fight against malaria. Following Holgate and Cooper’s collaboration on last year’s Rainbow Expedition, the off-road tyre manufacturing specialist is spearheading another twelve month-long trip, the Outside Edge Expedition. A convoy of 347 Land Rovers all shod with Cooper all-terrain tyres – the longest humanitarian train ever – set off from the Cape of Good Hope in April.

The mammoth expedition will circumnavigate Africa, travelling as the name suggests, around the edge of the vast continent. The aim of the trip is linked to the Cooper-supported One Net One Life campaign, which will see the expedition delivering tens of thousands of life-saving mosquito nets to pregnant mothers and children under the age of five. Shockingly, two babies die every minute from the bite of a mosquito – that’s 3.5 million Africans a year, more than die from HIV/Aids, according to the One Net One Life campaign.
Also linked to the Outside Edge Expedition is the Cooper Tire-supported Right to Sight initiative, in which ‘readers’ are supplied to help poor-sighted villagers.

18th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tiger Automotive Not Affected by TiWheel Complications

Wheel and tyre wholesaler/retailer Tiger Automotive, who operates in both the UK and South African markets, is reportedly not vulnerable to any possible claims made by creditors of Tiger Wheel. According to company CEO Keith Rivers, “When Tiger Automotive was unbundled from Tiger Wheel Limited in December last year, the separation was complete. As far as I am aware there were no cross guarantees.”

TiWheel shares were suspended from trading on July 11, and the company’s recent financial results have been disappointing. However Rivers states that Tiger Automotive is in good shape and looking forward to a slight increase in year-on-year earnings to end June. He added that two ‘constraints’ to Tiger Automotive had been resolved – the 16.5 per cent anti-dumping duty on Chinese tyres has been removed, and problems regarding deliveries to Yokohama South Africa from Japan have been almost totally overcome.

13th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Trading of Tiwheel Shares Suspended

The board of directors at Tiger Wheels Limited has issued advice stating it requested the South African stock exchange JSE Ltd suspend trading Tiwheel shares until further announcement. This suspension took effect as of July 11.

“Shareholders are referred to the cautionary announcement published on May 30, 2007, and are advised that the board of directors of Tiwheel has requested the JSE Limited to suspend trade in Tiwheel’s shares until a further announcement can be made,” the company said in a statement.

Shares in the company have fallen more than 40 per cent since the end of May this year, and on May 30 the company gave notice that the performance of its 74 per cent held global wheel manufacturing business, ATS GmbH, had failed to meet the expectations of the revised performance forecast made to its German financing syndicate in February. It further stated that the syndicate regarded this as a further breach of bank covenants.

12th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodway Eyes Up Further Expansion

Malaysia’s Goodway Integrated Industries has expanded its rubber compound and tyre retreading business through the acquisition of a number of assets from Autoways (Malaya) and the turnaround of operations at retreader Big Wheel (Sabah), acquired by Goodway in August 2005.

The Autoways assets acquisition cost Goodway £1.13 million and will boost the company’s rubber compound and retreading capacity. Goodway says it is now considering the possibility of expanding overseas, including to the Middle East and Africa.

10th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Considers Expansion of Dunlop SA Plant

Apollo Tyres is planning a major capacity expansion at its Dunlop South Africa facility, Indian newspapers have reported. The project is expect to go into action in 2008/09. Mr S. Sarkar, Chief of Corporate Strategy and Marketing of Apollo Tyres, told Hindu Business Line that Apollo has already ramped up the production of the South African facility from 150 tonnes to 170 tonnes a day through “various de-bottlenecking exercises.” Productivity increases could lead to another 20 tonnes of output capacity being generated this financial year.

15th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian and Chinese Tyremakers to Target Mining Market at Tyrexpo

The influence of Chinese and Indian tyre manufacturers on the southern African market for OTR, mining and quarrying tyres is set to grow substantially, according to the organisers of the Tyrexpo Africa’08 exhibition. Major suppliers including Apollo International and Balkrishna from India and Shanghai Yadong, Shifeng Double Star and Techking Tires from China have already confirmed their presence as exhibitors at the next show in March 2008. ECI International, the company that organises the exhibition, believes this signals an aggressive drive to achieve greater market shares in the lucrative mining sector.

Rowena Suthers, ECI’s sales director, says: “Indian and Chinese tyre makers have become successful exporters around the globe and it’s clear from the response we are seeing that sub-Saharan markets are now firmly in their sights. That should be great news for tyre buyers and plant managers, offering wider choice at very competitive terms.”

12th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Manufacture in SA – Will it Have a Future?

(SA Treads – South Africa) The South African business sector is applauded the world over for its unflinching work ethic, its determination to succeed against all odds and its uncanny ability to come up with creative solutions whenever the occasion demands it. Nowhere is this more evident perhaps than in the tyre manufacturing segment. Rocketing oil prices, unstable currency, raw material shortages and subsequent price hikes, not to mention the seemingly relentless infiltration of foreign makes landing at suspiciously rock-bottom prices, have all taken their toll on our four domestically-based tyre makers. How are they meeting these challenges? Is tyre manufacturing in this country sustainable or can it expect to meet a similar fate to that of nations like Australia which has seen the demise of local industry in favour of low-cost imports?

4th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Introducing the Dunlop Interactive Display – a First for South Africa

(SA Treads- South Africa) An exciting new development – the Dunlop Interactive Module Display – was launched early this year, exclusively for Dunlop’s Accredited Dealers. This hi-tech selling tool – the first of its kind in South Africa – is set to make an irrevocable mark in this business and is likely to provide Dunlop’s loyalty programme with an added advantage in the marketplace.

Set on a hi-tech display stand that not only makes a fashion statement, but also reinforces the fact that the shop in question is at the cutting edge of the latest global phenomenon, the new Interactive Display Module is operated at the touch of a button via an advanced touch screen option. Easy to drive and fun to explore, it provides customers and motoring enthusiasts with exciting footage and plenty of information. Take the Land Speed Record for example. Here, customers are provided with the full story behind the record-breaking run, thereby demonstrating the outstanding performance of the SP Sport 7000D.

4th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Up Close and Personal With Dunlop

(SA Treads – South Africa) April of this year marked the end of an era. Industry icon, Pierre Dreyer, outgoing managing director of Dunlop Tyres SA and Mike Hankinson, CEO, officially announced their joint retirement from Dunlop and the tyre industry as a whole, in a move that will see them pursuing new business ventures and personal aspirations in the months and years to come. Simultaneously, Brazilian-born Dr Luis Ceneviz assumed the role of managing director of Dunlop Tyres SA on 1 April 2007. Amidst all the last-minute frenzied activity, we managed to secure an exclusive interview with all three, to not only recap any historic milestones the Company may have achieved, but gain some insight into what we can expect from this new tyre manufacturer going forward.

1st June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Gives Tyre Safety Training in Africa

International development agency Transaid has launched a Tyre Safety Awareness Campaign in Malawi and Zambia, which commenced with a series of training courses led by Phil Rochester, a Training Manager at Michelin’s head office in Stoke-on-Trent. The initiative forms part of Transaid’s wider programme of work on road safety and professional driver training, which aims to reduce the number of road traffic crashes in Africa, which records 10 per cent of all such incidents, despite having just four per cent of the world’s total vehicle parc.

A total of 10 training courses were delivered over a two week period to key audiences which included traffic police, road safety agencies, road transport operators and public transport operators. Each course provided basic information on safety checks and how to avoid dangers associated with poorly maintained tyres, with training delivered to 270 people.

30th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Aims to Fire Up Arabian Sports Driving Scene

Between 12 to 14 May 2007, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa FZE offered Potenza Driving Lessons, a concept designed to raise awareness of safe sports driving techniques developed, run in cooperation with former F1 driver Stefano Modena. Part of a long term initiative from Bridgestone, the first three days of lessons were held in Dubai.

“We decided to host interactive driving lessons to provide a chance for motoring fans to enjoy sports driving in a safe and supervised environment. Using cars fitted with the new Potenza RE001 Adrenalin will effectively convey the joy and pleasure of sports driving to our target market and cultivate Potenza supporters in the region” said Mr. Kanahara, President, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa FZE, Dubai.

Bridgestone Middle East & Africa FZE (BSMEA) is the headquarters for the Middle East and Africa region. It was set up with the objectives of speeding up decision-making and action and of optimizing regional strategy by identifying market trends close to the customer and market.

15th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Minority Conti Subsidiary Seeks Funds to Revive Fortunes

Tanzanian tyremaker General Tyre East Africa (GTEA) has reported that it requires some US$7.5 million to reverse its fortunes. The company, established in 1969 and co-owned by the Tanzanian government (79 per cent) and Continental AG (21 per cent), held talks with a bank in early May in the hope of securing $2.5 million – money that would go towards assuring the company of a more reliable source of raw materials.

GTEA has also previously sought government intervention in its quest for a $5 million loan to obtain the amount it needs to overcome the difficulties the company has been facing as a result of high production costs, including the costs of fuel and natural rubber imports. The company has proposed that rubber plantations in the regions of Tanga and Morogoro be upgraded to increase output, a move that would, according to GTEA, save an estimated $7 million on rubber imports.

9th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors