After three years of regional association with Manchester United Football Club, Apollo Tyres has extended its sponsorship agreement with the club for the next three years and has extended the scope of the deal to become the official ‘Global Tyre Partner’.
Apollo Tyres’ Enschede plant in the Netherlands has a 200 tonne per day capacity and currently operates at more than 90 per cent capacity utilisation, and to supplement output within the region the tyre maker is currently erecting a brand new factory in Hungary. During a conference call last week, Gaurav Kumar, chief financial officer at Apollo Tyres Ltd., confirmed that the company has planned a capital expenditure of €200 million for the project during the current financial year (1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017).
Apollo Tyres Ltd has inaugurated a new office in the ASEAN region’s third largest automotive market. Satish Sharma, president of the tyre maker’s Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA region), inaugurated the company’s Malaysian office in the presence of select business partners and company officials.
According to LMC figures, Europe’s light commercial vehicle market is growing 35 per cent faster than the passenger car market, and these vehicles now account for 11 per cent of the region’s vehicle parc. This growth is to a large extent being driven by a strong rise in parcel deliveries, and Apollo Tyres believes that the 21 million light commercial vehicle tyres currently sold in Europe annually will increase to 25 million tyres per year by the end of 2020.
Data from the recently concluded Safe Drive Campaign, conducted by Apollo Tyres in two locations in Thailand, revealed that less than 10 per cent vehicles being driven around in the country had incorrect inflation pressure. Of this 10 per cent, most were found driving with under-inflated tyres.
On the occasion of publishing its full-year 2015/2016 financials, Apollo Tyres has reported sales of 117 billion rupees (£1.214 billion; 1.537 billion euros; US$1.757 billion) compared with 127.256 billion rupees in 2014/2015. During the same period (2015/2016) operating profit grew 3 per cent to close at 20.4 billion rupees, up from 19.8 billion rupees. Net profit increased 12 per cent to 10.9 billion from 9.8 billion rupees the year before.
Apollo Tyres was recently awarded the Global Green Future Leadership Award 2016 by World CSR Congress. The company received this award under the Best Waste Management category for its Clean My Transport Nagar (CMTN) initiative in the trans-shipment hubs across the country. Starting with Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar in Delhi, in 2012, the company’s CMTN initiative is currently running in the trans-shipment hubs of Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kanpur and Mumbai, in addition to Delhi.
The market for motorcycle and scooter tyres in India is massive – around 120 million two-wheeled vehicles ply the country’s roads. To supply this large and growing market – the two-wheeler segment is said to be increasing at 8.5 per cent CAGR – and in response to its requests from its partners, Apollo Tyres has introduced the company’s first-ever products for this segment. The new Acti line-up covers around 85 per cent of replacement market demand for two-wheeler tyres in India.
In the three months to 31 December 2015 – the third quarter of its 2015-16 financial year – Apollo Tyres achieved sales of Rs 29.29 billion (£298.0 million), 3.7 per cent less than a year earlier. Third quarter EBITDA stood at Rs 5.12 billion (£52.1 million), up 2.0 per cent year-on-year, while net profit rose 51.6 per cent to at Rs 2.79 billion (£28.4 million).
At its Board of Directors meeting on 9 February, Apollo Tyres Ltd confirmed the appointment of Francesco Gori as an additional, non-independent company director. Mr Gori, who served as chief executive officer of Pirelli Tyre between 2006 and 2012, joined Apollo Tyres as advisor for strategy in October 2015. Vinod Rai, the former comptroller and auditor general of India, was also appointed an additional, independent director of Apollo Tyres during the meeting, and approval was given for a change in Robert Steinmetz’s directorship status.
Apollo Tyres is reportedly looking to enter the motorcycle tyre business in the first half of 2016. Indian automotive website ZigWheels writes that its sources suggest Apollo will focus on tyres for motorcycles with a 300cc and larger displacement.
Apollo Tyres’ takeover of reifencom GmbH, operator of e-commerce sites in six European countries, has been described as part of the company’s strategy to expand its retail network in the European market. Apollo said its takeover will allow it to support the expansion activities of its subsidiary Apollo Vredestein, which include major investments in the European premium brand Vredestein. The company stated that it has major plans for growth via an expansion of its original equipment activities – the groundwork for which is being laid via the current construction of a new plant in Hungary.
Apollo Tyres Ltd has announced its acquisition of tyre wholesaler and online retailer Reifen.com GmbH. The German company changed hands for €45.6 million and, according to Neeraj Kanwar, vice-chairman and managing director of Apollo Tyres, the purchase of Reifen.com represents a “strategic fit in further growing our European business.
Having reduced a field of 51 to 19, Auto Bild announced that three of the winter tyres tested had made it all the way to the top of the German magazine’s rankings, picking up “exemplary” ratings. Continental’s WinterContact TS 850, Pirelli’s Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3, and the Barum Polaris 3 were the best performers, according to Auto Bild’s testers, who ranked the tyres based on their performance on snowy, wet and dry roads and their cost. The tests were performed on a VW Polo, with the tyres sized 185/60R15 T.
Apollo Tyres reports that sales fell in the second quarter – the Apollo Tyres-fiscal year runs from April 2015 to March 2016 – by 10.5 per cent to 29.8 billion rupees (417 million euros). Meanwhile, operating profits of 70 million euros represent a decline of just 2.3 per cent at 5 billion rupees. Net income, however, rose 8.1 per cent to 2.8 billion rupees (39 million euros).
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