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Cooper Tire & Rubber: Weak Tire Demand to Leave Earnings Short

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it will publish its financial results for the second quarter on July 17, 2003. The company also indicates that it expects those results to fall short of current analyst expectations. “This was a difficult quarter,” said Tom Dattilo, Cooper’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Raw material prices were dramatically higher and overall demand for replacement tyres was weak. The replacement tyre industry remained very soft during the quarter. Although we did see strong improvement in the latter half of June, it was not enough to offset the weakness earlier in the period.” The Company expects earnings per share to be in the range of 13 to 17 cents. These results include charges of 2 cents for restructuring, 4 cents related to temporary tire plant shutdowns, and a total of 2 cents for a minor accrual adjustment and the write off of certain tooling assets.

8th July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Hayes Lemmerz Announces Unsecured Note Issuance

Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. has announced its intention to sell up to 225 million US dollars of senior unsecured notes due in 2010. Hayes Lemmerz intends to use the net proceeds from the offer to make payments in connection with its Plan of Reorganisation to support its emergence from Chapter 11.Hayes Lemmerz, its U.S. subsidiaries and one subsidiary organised in Mexico filed voluntary petitions for reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on December 5, 2001.

14th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Time Running Out For Goodyear

Yesterday was the final day for Goodyear to report its 2002 financial results or apply for a two-week extension. The company has said that it will not release financial details until it has finalised discussions with banks concerning restructuring, refinancing and securing loans, as “both subjects are related” said a spokesman. Goodyear denies it is facing a liquidity crisis, as some analysts have said, and the company has secured a new credit line of $1.3 billion.

1st April 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Misses Deadline (Update)

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has missed its Monday deadline for reporting its end of year results for 2002. The company is still in negotiations with banks over restructuring of its loans. It is currently seeking an extension with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would give it until April 15 to file the information. However, Friday is a more impending deadline when the banks wish to complete discussions regarding the loans.Goodyear lost $203 million in 2001 and is expected to post a loss for a second year in a row.The filing with the SEC also requires companies to disclose a wide range of other audited financial data, including available cash, sales, assets, debts and capital resources. Failure to meet the extended deadline could see Goodyear facing a court order to disclose the information, along with civil fines.Goodyear said the only reason it needs an extension is because it is continuing to discuss its loan restructuring with a group of banks.

1st April 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

North American Auto Output To Drop 10%

Auropolis analysts expect vehicle production in North America to fall by 10 per cent in 2003 even is a war is avoided or short. The drop will continue even if current price-cutting is extended. Despite action to maintain volumes US sales fell for eight months in 2002 and showed lower year-on-year figures for the second straight year in a row. In a market characterised by fears over some carmakers’ financial foundations, waning consumer confidence and a market which has been almost saturated with overly-cheap cars for three years, the prospects are poor. Past cycles in the US show, that when it comes, the market normally corrects sharply and quickly. Swings in sales of more than 20% from the highest point to the lowest over an 18 month period are typical says the firm. The only reason that the situation might be better this time is because Mexico’s market should grow in 2004 thanks to price cuts anticipated there. Assuming a normal pace of recovery, Autopolis say the North American market will take until 2009 to have returned to its peak level again.

14th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Tiger Wheels Realign Investments

South African Tiger Wheels is planning to realign its investments in wheel manufacturing, which might lead ultimately to an overseas listing for the company. This was announced by CO, Eddie Keizan, as he unveiled an impressive set of financial results for the six months to December.

6th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Gets Loan Extension

Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced that the company has been granted an extension on its loan agreements. The waivers were due to expire on March 7, but the extension is until April 4. Goodyear has secured agreement from JPMorgan and Citigroup to underwrite a new, three-year, $1.3 billion asset-based credit facility and this, says Robert W. Tieken, Goodyear’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, “provides additional liquidity that offers financial and operational flexibility for our businesses.”

5th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan International 2002 Results

Titan International has reported its 2002 financial results. Turnover for the year was $462.8 million (2001: $457.5 m), while operating results showed a loss of $14.1 million (2001 loss: $33.5 m). The net loss was $35.9 million for the year (2001 loss: 34.8 m) and this figure includes two investment losses, totalling $12.4 million. Titan’s President and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr., pointed to the improvement in operating results as evidence that Titan’s quest to rebound are proving successful and he paid tribute to the company’s workforce for their efforts.

4th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts Upgrade Michelin

Financial analysts MorganStanley have upgraded Michelin from Equal Weight to Overweight, which means that the stock’s total return is expected to exceed the average of those companies reported on in the same industry, over the next 12-18 months. Michelin recently published an encouraging set of figures for 2002 and the analysts believe that the shares, currently trading near an eight-year low of 24 Euros, are undervalued.

26th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone To Take Stake In Finnish Rival

Bridgestone has agreed to purchase two million Nokian Tyres shares from Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia for 78.34 million Euro (US$84.89 million). Representing a 18.9 per cent stake in the Scandinavian company, Bridgestone says the deal is purely a financial investment. “At this point it is a business investment. We see a lot of potential synergies and we want to build on those,” Bridgestone Europe Vice President Des Collins said, adding that Bridgestone had been in contact with Nokian management before agreeing to take the stake. His company was interested in Nokian because of its strong position in the Nordic countries and its know-how in the winter tyre market. Bridgestone agreed to purchase Nokian shares for 39.17 Euro per share. Nokian, the Nordic region’s largest tyre maker, said in a statement the transaction was conditional upon approval by the German antitrust authorities.

24th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin In World Top Ten

In the latest PriceWaterhouseCoopers/Financial Times survey of the World’s Most Respected Companies, Michelin is ranked number nine in the Engineering sector. The list seeks the opinions of more than 1,000 CEOs worldwide, plus fund managers, media commentators, etc. Top of the Engineering list were Toyota and GM, while the top ranked company overall was General Electric, for the fifth year in a row.

20th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Looking For Acquisitions

Armed with a US$35 million loan from Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), in Washington, Apollo Tyres India is on the lookout for acquisitions. The company’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Kanwar Singh, said the company was open for acquiring tyre companies in the country and was in talks with a number of them. “There is no time frame for going for acquisition, but we are open to the idea,” he said.Apollo Tyres is aiming to bring down its borrowing cost by 50 per cent from current levels and is confident to reach a turnover of US$415 million during the current financial year. Commenting on reducing borrowing cost, Kanwar Singh said, “Not only we are expecting a steep fall in borrowing cost, but measures like a cost cutting drive will also bring in much better control.”

11th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Sherbrook Wheels: Turkish Delight In Lichfield

Lichfield-based Sherbrook International Ltd is entering the alloy wheel market and aims to hit the big time. It may be a new name in the wheel sector but the company has a long-standing heritage in the automotive industry and, for a newcomer to the wheels’ market, has an excellent record for getting things right. This could be just another player trying to make a few extra pennies from selling wheels while the market lasts but nothing could be further from the truth.The company has grown to a staff of 25, sourced from the automotive industry, each an expert in his or her field, carrying out negotiations between both ends of the supply chain. The company offers a 24/7/365 office service to the trade with constant monitoring of schedule performance and awareness of in-transit goods. This is built on effective customer communication and enables stock to be ordered from across the continent, or around the globe to meet Just In Time production processes. Rapid reaction to customer demands and a local technical support team result in quick problem solving which, with an agreed stock buffering system, eliminates supply chain down time from the manufacturing process.Now the company has a turnover in excess of 30 million Pounds and the financial backing of a large Turkish commercial organisation. Koç, this Turkish conglomerate, took over Sherbrook in 1998 giving the company a secure financial future and access to an even wider market and production base. Koç operates in Turkey on many levels, and its company logo of a Ram’s head in red outline is visible everywhere, especially in the Izmir area. In 2000 the Koç group had 9.2 billion Dollars of consolidated sales from 92 group companies employing 35,500 people. Core businesses cross many sectors, including automotive, banking, construction, household appliances, IT, and food and tourism. In the automotive sector the company has strong links with Land Rover, Ford, Iveco, Fiat and in components covers almost all areas. However, it is the Döktas foundry business which has led the company into wheel distribution in the UK.

10th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Gets Financial Breathing Space

Goodyear has been in talks with its main bank lenders to modify certain loan agreements and covenants. Robert Keegan, president and CEO, said that this action “should provide us the financial resources, including access to capital markets, to meet the ongoing needs of our business and drive our turnaround.” Under the agreements, Goodyear will have an extended time to make a required $500 million contribution to its pension fund and will have full access to $1.1 billion in two revolving credit facilities.

6th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

No Quarterly Dividend From Goodyear

The Board of Goodyear Tire & Rubber has agreed to eliminate the company’s quarterly dividend. President and CEO Robert Keegan described the decision as “an important step in a series of actions the company is taking to improve its financial flexibility.”

5th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors