It is hard to believe that little more than two years have passed since Nokian Tyres predicted the market for premium tyres in Russia would grow by an average of ten per cent each year, and even harder to grasp that as recently as 2012 the Russian and CIS markets accounted for 35 per cent of the tyre maker’s total net sales.
The financial results for the first six months of published by Pirelli & C. SpA yesterday show a 6.4 per cent year-on-year rise in net sales in the period to 30 June, with sales amounting to €3.2 billion. Organic growth accounted for 3.2 per cent of this increase. Pirelli’s consumer business enjoyed year-on-year growth of 10.2 per cent, while revenues for the industrial business declined 5.2 per cent.
Cooper Tire & Rubber blames the absence of Cooper Chengshan Tire (CCT) from the company’s books for the 15.4 per cent year-on-year drop in sales experienced during the second quarter of 2015. Excluding the impact of CCT, Cooper Tire & Rubber’s second quarter 2015 sales rose five per cent year-on-year as a result of $64 million worth of higher unit volume gained both in the Americas and International business units.
Specialty chemicals manufacturer Lanxess states it has initiated a carve-out process to transfer its rubber business to a legally independent business entity within the Lanxess Group. The plan is for the new entity to include the company’s Tire & Specialty Rubbers (TSR) and High Performance Elastomers (HPE) business units, which together operate 20 production facilities and have some 3,700 employees.
Goodyear has reported strong overall results for its second quarter, despite falling sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. The manufacturer reported that the 20 per cent lower sales, $1,265 million compared to $1,580 million in the same quarter in 2014, was primarily a result of “unfavourable foreign currency translation”, though it also saw two per cent lower tyre unit volume. This was a result of lower consumer tyre sales and the manufacturer’s exit from the agricultural tyre business. Both original equipment and replacement tyre shipments were down two per cent. Its EMEA operating income was also eight per cent below the 2014 2Q, though operating margin rose from 7.4 to 8.5 per cent.
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.
2006 was the 6th consecutive record year for B-Quik, the Thailand-based tyre and car services retailer. The company serviced 250,000 customers through its total of 45 centres, of which three were new stores opened during 2006.
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