Point S International business development manager, Adrian Smiechowski, attended the first Indian Tyre & Rubber Industry Leadership Acknowledgement (TRiLA) Awards in Chennai. The TRiLA 2015 event took place on the sidelines of Tyrexpo India 2015.
Automotive retail chain Halfords, which includes the growing and increasingly tyre-influenced Halfords Autocentres business, has reported annual group revenues of £1 billion – a year ahead of the company’s plan to reach this milestone. The figures, released on 5 June and followed up with a trading statement on 15 July that pointed to further growth are at least partly driven by the growth of the firm’s online business which saw sales in the year to March 2015 exceed £100 million, representing growth of +14.3 per cent. Indeed, the fourth quarter of 2015 alone saw online sales grow +12.6 per cent. The result is a positive impact on the group’s pre-tax profits (EBITDA), which were up 8.7 per cent.
Cimcorp, which specialises in intralogistics automation reports that Qingdao Sentury Tire Co Ltd. has made the firm’s biggest ever order. According to Cimcorp Sentury has ordered a turnkey material handling solution for its new factory in Thailand.
Ge Guorong, vice president of Zhongce Rubber Group (known as ZC Rubber), visited Thailand for an update on construction progress of ZC Rubber Thailand factory in March.
BM Catalysts, a UK-based manufacturer of aftermarket Catalytic Converters (Cats), Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) and Front Pipes, has invested over £500,000 in its in-house production facilities, as well as the internal layout of its head office to help improve production processes and create a better environment for its employees.
Lodge Tyre Company Ltd has opened its 21st depot, with the unveiling on a new branch in Salford. The family run and Birmingham-based business is celebrating its 80th year of trading during 2015.
The new depot, which situated in Lord Byron Square, Salford and close to the M56, M60, M61, M62 and M67 motorway network is located to service Lodge’s expanding business to business customer list as well as its mobile response service. The depot will initially be used as a stocking unit employing three people and managed by long-time Lodge employee Jamie Davies.
Production capacity for high performance light truck and SUV tyres at Michelin’s Dothan factory in the US will increase by ten per cent when upgrades now being installed in the plant are completed in the summer of 2016. Michelin says it is investing US$22 million to upgrade the 35 year old plant, which currently employs 560 people. Approximately 40 new jobs will be created by the investment.
Micheldever Tyre Services says it will “begin the biggest period of expansion in its 43 year history” this year, with a large expansion of its Protyre retail network planned over the next 18 months. The wholesaler posted revenues exceeding £322m last year, selling 6 million tyres through 8,500 fast fit centres – including its own Protyre branded retail sites. Current low-end estimates could put this figure at around one in every five tyres replaced by UK motorists.
Construction of Apollo Tyres’ first European Greenfield plant in Gyöngyöshalász, Hungary, officially began on 10 April 2015, with a foundation stone laying ceremony. The international tyre manufacturer’s facility will start production in early 2017. The facility will produce both, Apollo and Vredestein branded tyres and will cater to the entire European market.
In case you haven’t heard, as much as 65 per cent of Pirelli is in the process of being sold to ChemChina. It’s a complex plan and there’s a long road ahead, but the deal has been done and so takeover wheels are in motion (see page 28 for complete coverage of this part of the story). So what’s next? The deal can’t fail to have an impact at Pirelli, but what about the other top five tyre manufacturers and beyond? We hinted at market consolidation in this column last month, with reference to restructuring proceedings at Shandong Deruibao Tire Co., Ltd and possible contagion in China; and Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera made the market aware of that he was planning to sell his stake within two years in January 2014. But few would have named this particular bidder and this particular timing. Now we are faced with the possibility, even the likelihood that the Pirelli/ChemChina deal is going to precipitate further micro and macro consolidation within the tyre market – even a re-shuffle of the tyre industry’s top 10.
Apollo Tyres has been named as a Hungary ‘Investor of the Year 2014’ under the ‘Largest Greenfield Investment of the Year’ category. The award is instituted by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The winners were announced during its third annual award ceremony held in Pesti Vigado in Budapest.
India’s MRF Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it will invest Rs 45 billion (£483.5 million) in its Perambalur and Arakonam plants in Tamil Nadu state over a seven year period as part of an expansion plan. The tyre maker will gain some level of support from the government of Tamil Nadu and says it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the government there in the near future. The government of Tamil Nadu has accorded the MRF expansion project ‘Ultra Mega Project Status’ under Tamil Nadu Industrial Policy 2014, a policy that aims to strengthen the state as a centre of manufacturing and increase exports from the region.
At the end of 2014, Brazilian retreading material supplier Vipal reported that it had opened a UK distribution centre in the East Anglian port of Felixstowe. However, the recent opening is more than just an example of an expanding operation in one European market, rather it is an example of how the company is growing across the continent. Tyres & Accessories met up with Vipal Europe general manager Alessandro Campos and East and region sales representative, Michal Baxa at the company’s new distribution facility to find out more.
Liverpool wholesaler Kirkby Tyres, a market leader in the UK agricultural tyre sector, has recently expanded, purchasing a further three acres adjacent to its site for the expansion of warehousing and logistics. The company now has nearly 10 acres at its HQ; the latest development represented significant growth. “Support from our key suppliers is enabling Kirkby to expand in the OE and aftermarket within the UK and Ireland,” MD Dave Dorrity told Tyres & Accessories. The wholesaler supplies Alliance, BKT and Malhotra brand tyres to the segment, as well as becoming the exclusive Trelleborg wholesaler for the UK last year. Ahead of LAMMA, Dorrity gave T&A a rundown of current activities with its major brands, as well as detailing a new deal with Linglong.
The German town of Bad Kreuznach reports Michelin’s acquisition of a 70,000 square metre land plot alongside its facility there, an area that will be used to expand the plant. The land is part of the ‘Marshall Kaserne’ site, a former US Army barracks in the Rhineland-Palatinate that closed in 2001.
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Lodge Tyres
