(Tire Review/Akron) Richard Morgan has announced his retirement as president and CEO of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance.
No exact date for his retirement was announced. The Alliance’s board of directors has launched a search for Morgan’s successor, and the group and Morgan indicated that the search window may be two years.
James A. Firestone, president, Xerox North America, has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The election of Firestone brings the size of Goodyear’s board to 13 members. Firestone, 53, is an executive vice president of Xerox Corporation and has led the company’s North American operations since 2004. He has also served as head of Xerox’s channels group and was the company’s chief strategy officer.
“Jim has a wealth of managerial experience with a diverse group of respected companies, including Xerox, IBM and American Express,” said Goodyear Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Keegan. “We are confident that he will contribute significantly to Goodyear’s continued growth.”
The Peel Group company Heysham Port Ltd, operator of a fleet of 28 tugs that together perform in excess of 1,000 trailer movements per day whilst loading and unloading ships stopping in north west England en route to and from Belfast, Dublin, the Isle of Man and Warrenpoint, is making the switch to Michelin tyres. A total of six new Terberg RT222 tugs have joined the fleet fitted with Michelin X-Terminal T tyres specified as original equipment, with a further four on order for delivery in spring 2008. Heysham Port is also fitting X-Terminal T tyres to other tugs as wear dictates, with servicing work carried out by mobile support vehicles from ATS Euromaster and Tyrecraft.
(Tire Review) Other MEMA board officers include Vice chairman – Terry R. McCormack, president and director, Affinia Group; Vice chairman – James S. McElya, CEO, president and director, Cooper Standard Automotive; and Treasurer – Eugene E. Ezzell, chairman and CEO, Mikronite Automotive Technologies. Al Stecklein, group president, worldwide aftermarket division, Gates Corp., will remain on the board as immediate past chairman.
New members of the board are Terry Keating, CEO and chairman, Accuride Corp.; Gordon Ulsh, president, CEO and director, Exide Technologies; and Dennis Welvaert, president, global automotive aftermarket, Dayco Products.
Cooper Tire & Rubber announced on November 15 that its Board of Directors has named Thomas P. Capo as a director of the company. Mr. Capo serves as chairman of the board for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc, a $1.7 billion car rental company, and also serves as co-chairman of the board of Microheat Inc., a privately held tier-one supplier to the automotive industry. Mr. Capo is an advisor on business, financial and investment strategy to various companies and organisations. He previously served on the boards of JLG Industries Inc., a $2.3 billion access equipment producer, and Sonic Automotive Inc., an $8.0 billion automotive retailer.
Mr. Capo served as senior vice president and treasurer of DaimlerChrysler Corporation from 1998-2000. Prior to 1998, he held the positions of vice president and treasurer of the Chrysler Corporation and vice president and controller of Chrysler Financial Corporation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance, a master’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in economics, from the University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Michigan.
South Africa’s Tiger Automotive has confirmed it received a written expression of interest in purchasing the company from prominent South African private equity manager Ethos Private Equity. The company has offered to pay R 1.05 billion (£76.2 million) for Tiger Automotive. However, Tiger Automotive added that this document is in no way a binding offer, nor is it a notice of firm intention to make an offer on the tyre and wheel distributor.
South Africa’s tyre industry has recently completed a short round of musical chairs, with a couple of senior executives switching companies. Former Continental Tyre SA senior manager Dustine Gascoyne has joined Goodyear South Africa as marketing director. “The Port Elizabeth-born marketing executive has gained solid experience in the tyre industry after spending the past 14 years at Continental,” said Goodyear in its announcement. Gascoyne added: “I am delighted to be on board at Goodyear. The company feels open and team-oriented.”
Goodyear recently split the sales and marketing directorship portfolios into two separate roles, and former Hi-Q managing director Andrew Bowren has taken up the position of sales director at Goodyear South Africa.
(Akron/Tire Review) Former Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. president Mario DiFederico, 86, died early November in Akron. DiFederico was elected to the Firestone board in 1970 and retired as president in 1979. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947, and immediately started with Firestone.
Continental AG has announced a third quarter profit increase of 7 per cent, largely attained through the strong performance of the company’s tyre division. However this result has fallen short of market expectations of a 17 per cent rise in profit. Third quarter EBIT was 426.1 million euros, up 8.1 per cent over Q3 2006, while the quarter’s net profit was 251.5 million euros, a figure that failed to meet analyst predictions of 274 million euros.
The company’s consolidated sales for the first nine months of 2007 rose by 8.9 per cent to 11.92 billion euros; before changes in the scope of consolidation and exchange rate effects, consolidated sales were up 6.4 per cent. During the nine-month period EBIT rose by 19.8 per cent to 1.34 billion euros and the return on sales increased by 11.2 per cent; before changes in the scope of consolidation and special effects, EBIT rose 15.8 per cent to 1.38 billion euros. The adjusted return on sales amounted to 12.0 per cent, up from 10.9 per cent last year. The net income attributable to shareholders of the parent increased 25.3 per cent to 825.2 million euros, with earnings per share higher at 5.63 euros, as opposed to last year’s 4.51 euros.
Accuride Corporation announced on October 26 that the company’s current CEO and chairman of the board Terry Keating plans to retire from active employment as an officer of the company at the end of 2008. In accordance with the company’s succession plan current president, COO and board member John Murphy has been appointed to serve as Accuride’s president and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Keating will continue as chairman and will remain an officer of the company.
German automotive supplier Beru reports that, as a result of what it refers to as the current “difficult” situation in the motor industry, the company now assumes it will achieve operating profit (EBIT) of between 44 million and 47 million euros in full-year 2007. This represents a slight downward correction of the company’s most recently published earnings guidance. The reduction is attributed to the ongoing decrease in unit sales in the high-margin aftermarket business. Furthermore, in response to demands from vehicle manufacturers, Beru has been forced to grant price reductions it says exceed the effects of its own internal cost-cutting activities.
Beru’s executive board maintains its goal of increasing sales revenues by a low single-digit percentage this year.
Maxxis has swept the board in one of the USA’s premier professional rock racing championships, taking all three podium positions in the Eastern Division of the Maxxis sponsored XRRA series. Rusty Bray clinched victory, with Eric Childress in second place and Brian Shirley rounding out the top three. The results came after the three drivers put in strong performances at the last event of the regular season, which was held on August 18 in Badlands, Indiana.
Bray, who comes from a rock crawling background, maintained his overall victory was anything but a foregone conclusion. “We didn’t know how we’d do with the speed versus the rocks,” he said. “I ran Trepadors until this last event, when I needed a little more height. I ran the 40″ Creepy Crawlers this last time. They were good. This weekend was kind of our first time to deal with sand, but the Creepy Crawler worked well with the sand, dirt, rocks and the whole array of terrain.”
The Board of Directors of Titan International, Inc. has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $.005 (one half cent) per common share for the third quarter of 2007. The cash dividend is payable October 15, 2007, to stockholders of record on September 28, 2007. Titan International, Inc., a holding company, owns subsidiaries that supply wheels, tyres and assemblies for off-highway equipment used in agricultural, earthmoving/construction and consumer (including all terrain vehicles) applications.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. (AV’s) has announced that Amtel founder and the Chairman, Dr Sudhir Gupta, stepped down as chairman of AV’s Supervisory Board on 31 August. Maxim Ignatiev, Chairman of the Board of Sport and Fashion Group (formerly Reebok Russia) and Amtel-Vredestein N.V. Vice-Chairman will become Acting-Chairman. Supervisory Board member, Tariq Chaudri, has also resigned as a director with effect from 4 September 2007.
The increases to Continental’s workforce in Romania, announced last November by board member Thomas Sattelberger, appear to be getting underway sooner that first anticipated. The first 500 will most likely be employed within a few months, with another thousand taken on before the end of next year. The German tyremaker operates six facilities within the country, and according to Ildiko Kovacs, Continental Romania’s PR coordinator, the first intake of new recruits will be distributed between the company’s Timisoara, Sibiu, Carei and Arad plants.
Most new workers will be employed in the production sector, although a number of engineers and related specialists are also required. The employment of new staff forms part of the company’s plans to increase capacity across the board. According to 2006 figures from Romania’s finance ministry, Continental has invested in excess of a quarter of a billion euros into its operations in Romania.
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