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Titan Alters Conversion Offer for Senior Convertible Notes

Titan International, Inc. has alerted holders of its 5.25 per cent senior convertible notes due 2009 that it will convert their notes into Titan’s common stock at an increased conversion rate. According to financial news media, the notes are currently convertible at a conversion rate of 74.0741 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes, or about $13.50 per share. The increased conversion rate is 81 shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes, or about $12.35 per share. As of January 19, 2007, there were $81.2 million principal amount of convertible notes outstanding, according to Titan officials.

23rd January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Profits Plummet in Australia

Bridgestone Australia has reported a 72 per cent drop in annual net profit, and has warned of another tough year ahead of it. This bleak news comes only a month after parent company Bridgestone Corporation disclosed its intention to buy back the publicly listed Australian operation.

22nd January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti’s High EU Winter Tyre Sales Could Make ’07 Season Harder

Days after Continental announced that it increased sales of winter tyres by 8 per cent in 2006, financial analysts have been assessing the knock-on effect. In one report Deutsche Bank analysts suggested: “…since the weather [was] mild in Europe in the fourth quarter 2006, the sell out season was low, underlying high inventories at dealers. As a result they say there is a risk that the 2007 winter season will be challenging as dealers will have to move their excess stock first before ordering new tyres.

18th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Transfers Additional 330 million Euros to Pension Fund

At the end of 2006, Continental AG added 330 million euros to the trust fund it set up in the middle of last year to partially finance its pension obligations to current and retired employees in Germany. This brings the total assets transferred to the Continental Pension Trust e.V., which is legally independent from Continental, to 630 million euros. “We are again acting in line with our policy of optimizing financial structures and reducing future refinancing risks,” declared Continental’s CFO, Dr. Alan Hippe, in Hanover.

17th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Resumes Production

Tyres are reportedly rolling off the Dunlop production line in Sahagunj, India, for the first time since 2001. The factory, located in the state of Bengal, is initially focusing on manufacturing Earthmover tyres, although the production of other types of tyre should commence before mid 2007. The workforce at Sahagunj numbered 473 the day work resumed, but this number should increase to about 1,200 during the coming months.

15th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Fleet Owner Looks to China

In a move that shows that not even up and coming players in the tyre world can afford to be complacent, a large Indian transport provider has ordered a trial run of tyres from China to evaluate their value for money.

12th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

More Closures on Horizon at Goodyear

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. chief financial officer Richard Kramer has announced that the company will continue to “attack high-cost factories” as part of its programme to lower its worldwide operating costs.

12th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

MRF to expand capacity at three locations

India’s largest tyremaker, MRF, recently outlined its plans for expansion at three of its factories. The expansion is estimated to cost somewhere between £58 and 70 million, and will be implemented over a period of two years.

12th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

The Cost of Cutting Costs

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company have disclosed that the three-month USW strike cost them more than US$30 million a week.

Leading company executives said that Goodyear will continue to feel the strike’s financial impact through to the middle of the year, but the company has nevertheless achieved its goal of cutting costs.

Goodyear hopes to save US$610 million over a three-year period through the contract agreement that ended the strike.

10th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

2007 to be a Good Year for Transense Technologies

Writing in the Guardian Newspaper, financial analyst, Katie Allen, suggested that TMPS company Transense could have another successful year in 2007. The group, which develops tyre pressure monitoring technology, improved by only 15.75p to 91.75p over last year but it is said to enter the year “with a strong order book.” It has recently struck deals with the American automotive company Lear Corporation and with Michelin in the US, meaning that the world’s biggest tyre company will be using Transense’s pressure monitoring systems for its lorry tyres. “Now that it is commercialising years of technology development the company could take off in 2007,” said Allen.

10th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Granted New Line of Credit

Pirelli Tyre SpA, Europe’s third-biggest tyremaker, has arranged a line of credit worth 500 million euros (£337 million) in an attempt to improve the company’s financial structure and boost flexibility. The Italian banks NP Paribas and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA have been hired as lead arrangers to organise the five-year multi-currency credit line. This new credit line is larger than any previous funding, a reflection of the tyre unit’s increased independence from the greater Pirelli group.

9th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Obituary – Stuart Marshall

Stuart Marshall, one of the UK’s best-known former tyre industry journalists, has passed away aged 82.

With a background in newspapers and public relations following wartime service in the RAF, Marshall became editor of TAB, the British tyre industry’s business magazine, in the 1970s. He also served as European editor of the US publication Modern Tire Dealer, and gained a reputation as a leading writer about, in the words of a colleague “the black round things that keep you on the road.” Marshall’s other writing credits include a range of leading UK publications including the Guardian, Illustrated London News and the Financial Times, for whom he was a regular columnist for more than 20 years.

8th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Accuride Names New Management Team

Major US manufacturer of vehicle wheels and components, Accuride Corporation, has announced the appointment of a new Chairman of the Board and Executive Management. The appointments were announced on January 2 and took effect immediately. The new appointments are as follows:

4th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

TireWare Unveils Online Management System

TireWare Inc, a US based provider of business management software for tyre and vehicle service centres, has introduced what it claims to be the industry’s first subscription based online point of sale and distribution software. TireWare’s new pay as you go ‘software as a service’ system provides dealers with a whole new way of acquiring and managing their business software.

3rd January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Butler to Double in Size

Based near Modena, Italy, Butler Engineering & Marketing originated in 1988. It started as an entrepreneurial venture by a few people with a common vision to change the way tyres were fitted, bringing into line the technical developments of the tyre, wheel and automotive industries. Now almost nineteen years later, Butler is doubling the size of its facilities. By the end of 2007 Butler plans to have expanded from its current 9000 square metres to a site covering approximately 20,000 square metres.

21st December 2006/by Tyrepress Editors