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Amtel-Vredestein N.V. Declared Bankrupt

Following the news that Apollo Tyres is going to buy Vredestein Banden, the district court of Almelo in the Netherlands has declared the manufacturer’s former Russian-Dutch parent company (Amtel-Vredestein N.V.) bankrupt. As a result Amtel-Vredestein has released full-year 2008 financial results that chronicle the company’s continued decline from its poor full-year 2007 results. Full-year 2008 net losses almost doubled to US$446 million, compared with $242 million. The losses came despite relatively stable annual revenue of $881 million compared with $886 million in 2007.

The financial report also sheds a little more light on the timing of Apollo’s offer for Vredestein Banden. According to the company literature, the group received a “binding offer” to acquire 100 per cent of the issued share capital from Apollo in February 2009, two months before the news that such an offer became public. By this stage the offer had long been accepted by the company’s supervisory board, a decision that was made at some point in March.

1st May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Vredestein Banden Bought by Apollo Tyres

Apollo Tyres has agreed to buy Vredestein Banden following approval from the trustee in bankruptcy at the Almelo Court in the Netherlands which rubber stamped Apollo Tyres’ offer to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Vredestein Banden B.V. (VBBV), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Russia’s largest tyre manufacturer Amtel-Vredestein NV (AVNV). No details of price or further conditions have yet been released, however, according to an official statement on the matter, the parties will only be in a position to disclose this after “certain conditions have been met and certain approvals, including regulatory and statutory approvals are granted, wherever required.”

According to a statement Apollo Tyres’ board of directors gave their approval to the management to proceed with the acquisition of Vredestein Banden today (29 April 2009). Dutch newspaper, De Twentchse Courant Tubantia quoted Vredestein Banden CEO Rob Oudshoorn as saying: “We are relieved and happy…We have had good connections with Indian market leader Apollo for 15 years.”

29th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Net Profit Down 52%

Apollo Tyres’ India operations profits were less than half that of last year according to the year-end financial report released today by the manufacturer (April 2008-March 2009). While net sales grew 10 per cent from 36.9 billion to 40.7 billion rupees in the period, operating profit came down to 3.3 billion from 4.7 billion rupees and net profit more than halved from 2.1 billion to 1 billion rupees. Despite the relative gloom of the full year figures, Apollo came closer to matching the January-March 2008 quarterly operating profit in the same period this year, down merely 40 million rupees from 2.14 billion to 2.1 billion. The board of directors recommended a dividend payout of 45 per cent to shareholders.

29th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Board Approves Share Buyback Proposal

The Apollo Tyres Board of Directors has given its approval for a buyback of equity shares, as allowed by India’s Companies Act. The March 19 decision paves the way for a buyback programme of up to Rs 1.222 billion (£16.48), around 10 per cent of the company’s paid up capital and free reserves as of March 31, 2008. The buyback will be for a minimum of 67,00,000 equity shares, and the maximum buyback price is Rs 25 per share, on a face value of Rs 1.

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Presents New Corporate Identification

Following three decades of its existing logo, Apollo Tyres of India is freshening up its image with a new corporate image. With a new font and black, purple, grey or orange colouring, the change is striking indeed, especially when the colours combine on the company’s circle-themed backgrounds.

“The new look brings in the vibrancy of colors and shapes, and an overall look and feel of energy to a fast growing company with global ambitions,” the company states. “The change was a felt need, given Apollo’s recent growth and expansion into new markets and products. In a sense, this change captures the evolution of Apollo Tyres from being a predominantly commercial vehicle tyre maker to a leader across diverse customer segments.”

The new logo features the company name in lower case lettering, accompanied by series of colored discs, which Apollo said makes “a strong association with tyres and mobility. The discs, in fact, represent the various kinds of tires Apollo makes. The slim to thick outlines portray passenger to industrial tyres.”

13th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Lockout at Apollo Outsourced Factory Resolved

Late in the evening of March 4, union and management representatives met in an attempt to parry a continuation of the deadlock over negotiations at PTL Enterprises’ Kalamassery, India tyre manufacturing unit, a plant outsourced to Apollo Tyres. According to Apollo, the meeting resulted in an agreement that the unit would re-enter production on March 6.

As agreed in the previous meeting, held on February 24, the unions remain committed to sorting out 10 of 12 issues at hand within a month of reopening the plant. The two pending issues, those of moving out the mixing process and machinery and increasing the capacity from the current 86 to 98 tonnes per day, have not yet been fully resolved.

5th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyremakers Pass On Excise Duty Cut

A number of Indian manufacturers have lowered domestic market prices following a lowering of the excise duty charged upon tyres. The Indian government announced on February 24 it would reduce the excise on a range of consumer products from ten per cent to eight per cent in order to stimulate demand and boost the economy.

Apollo Tyres is passing on the benefit of the lower excise duty as of February 25, 2009 on all its replacement market commercial radial and cross ply tyres. “We should all support this proactive move by the government, which will boost the manufacturing as well as other sectors,” said Onkar S Kanwar, Apollo Tyres Ltd chairman and managing director. “We, on our part, will be passing on this reduction to our customers.”

25th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Lockout Continues at Apollo Outsourced Factory Despite Talks

A fresh round of talks over the ongoing lockout at the Apollo Tyres outsourced PTL Enterprise factory in Kalamassery India was held on February 24, yet the deadlock between company management and union representatives continues. Apollo reports that a resolution has been reached for ten out of the twelve issues at hand, however the two opposing parties cannot – or will not – see eye to eye on the remaining two.

25th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

East Europe Plans Affected by Apollo Capex Reduction

According to Apollo Tyres vice-chairman and joint managing director Neeraj Kanwar, the company has reduced its capital expenditure plans for the next two years from Rs 30 billion (£414 million) to Rs10.5 billion (£145 million) due to the global economic slowdown. Part of this reduction involves placing the company’s Eastern Europe capex plans on hold.

In a February 25 interview on Indian business television channel NDTV profit, which was later reported by Reuters, Kanwar said “Our capex has come down from 3,000 crores (30 billion rupees) that we were planning to spend in the next 2 years to 1,050 crores (10.5 billion rupees) which we were planning to spend in India.”

25th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Tyres to Receive OTR Investment Loan from BEML

In 2007 Apollo Tyres entered into an agreement to supply OTR tyres to Indian mining equipment manufacturer BEML, and on February 13 the tyre maker announced it will receive a Rs 1 billion (£14.45 million) loan from the state-owned enterprise to cover the costs of a new facility that will meet anticipated BEML demand. The first phase of Apollo’s new OTR tyre facility in Gujarat, being built at a total cost of Rs 1.2 billion (£17.34 million), will be dedicated to output for the equipment manufacturer. Further investments to boost the production of radial OTR tyres will also be made over the next three years, Apollo announced.

While the first batch of tyres from the new facility has already been shipped to BEML, the factory is expected to commence continuous production in March.

16th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo to Lay Off 1,500

The downturn in the automotive industry has seen Apollo Tyre’s OEM demand drop 43 percent in terms of value during the last financial quarter, and according to company chairman and managing director Onkar S Kanwar, “car sales have plummeted [and] tyre sales have also gone down proportionally.” During the last quarter commercial vehicle tyre sales have also experienced “a serious drop”, he added. In light of this decreased demand for the company’s products, the Hindu Business Line reports that Apollo is considering laying off 1,500 workers.

12th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Targets 10% Domestic Alloys Market

Leading Indian manufacturer Apollo Tyres has launched a range of alloy wheels under the brand name Acelere Wheelz to be sold through its passenger car tyre dealers in Dehli, Bangalore, Chennai and other major cities. At the launch, the company stated that it was “confident of capturing between 7 per cent to 10 per cent of the alloy wheels market in India,” and that it plans to release a new collection of rims every six months.

You don’t have to be an osteopath to realise that the company is adding muscle to the existing bones of its tyre business, but to underline the point Apollo plans to make Acelere Wheelz available in “combo” offers with the company’s Acelere, Acelere Sports, Aspire and Hawkz passenger car tyres. At present, the Indian alloy wheels market stands at an estimated figure of around 90,000 per month, of which 40 per cent is aftermarket, says Apollo. As yet, only 15 per cent of these come from the organised sector, with the rest imported.

10th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Tyres Launches New Alloy Wheel Range

Apollo Tyres has launched its new alloy wheel brand, Acelere Wheelz. The first products in the range, the ‘Fall-Winter’ collection, are already available through tyre dealerships across India. Apollo Tyres says that a new collection will be introduced onto the Indian market every six months, in line with its concept of the wheels as fashion accessories. The company comments that the Acelere Wheelz range is a ‘natural extension’ to its tyre range.

9th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

New MD, GM at Apollo’s Zimbabwe Operation

Two new senior appointments have been made at the Apollo Tyres’ owned companies Dunlop Zimbabwe and National Tyre Services (NTS). In a statement, Dunlop Tyres Group chief executive officer, Dr. Luis Ceneviz, said Mr. Kennedy Mandevani, who is currently Dunlop Zimbabwe managing director, will assume the position of group managing director for National Tyre Services. Mandevani’s portfolio will cover both NTS and Dunlop, said Ceneviz.

21st January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Stalemate Continues at Apollo PTL Site

The lockout at PTL Enterprises Ltd in India appears to have reached a stalemate, with both parties sticking to their respective positions without compromise. According to an official at Apollo Tyres, the employees’ unions demand that the lockout end as a pre-condition to enter into further negotiations, while management at the Apollo Tyres supplier say the company will end the lockout only after the issues are discussed and settled.

21st January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors