MTS Systems Corporation describes the tyre testing system it has installed at the US-based National Tire Research Center (NTRC) as the “world’s most advanced tyre testing system”, and reports the facility is now fully operational.
When Michelin reported full-year 2012 free cash flow of 1.075 billion euros, financial analysts responded by describing the results as “a strong beat” compared with consensus expectations. However, questions about profitability (and the company’s continued momentum in this respect) remain a subject of discussion amongst the market watchers.
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. has published its consolidated business results for the 2012 financial year – a shortened, nine-month period owing to the Japanese firm’s changeover to a January to December fiscal year in 2012.
Full year results for Swedish firm Trelleborg AB show its Trelleborg Wheel Systems business unit generated net sales of SEK 3,865 million (£386.8 million) in 2012, a very slight increase on a year earlier. In the final quarter of 2012 sales came to SEK 833 million (£83.4 million), 13 per cent less than a year earlier. Reporting this fourth quarter result, the company says Q4 sales were lower year-on-year in all market segments, however they were in line with general market trends. Operating profit amounted to SEK 449 million (£44.9 million) last year, a 12 per cent increase the Swedish company attributes to enhanced efficiency and favourable capacity utilisation. Final quarter operating profit dropped 27.3 per cent per cent to SEK 72 million (£7.2 million), primarily due to lower sales.
According to consumer magazine Which?, local councils in England and Wales paid out £22.8 million in compensation to drivers for pothole related damage in 2012. Which is a lot, really, and indicates the extent of the pothole problem on our roads. The Which? findings have also prompted TyreSafe to warn that the current ‘pothole epidemic’ blighting the UK’s roads is not only causing added financial burden for drivers and councils, but also carries the risk that it could lead to a rise in the number of tyre related road casualties.
Venture capital firm MMC Ventures Ltd reports that it and UK-based fund manager Enterprise Ventures have invested £640,000 in Tyres on the Drive, a business MMC describes as a “fast-growing and innovative online mobile tyre fitting service.” The funds are intended to support the expansion of Tyres on the Drive from its current area of operation in the North West and parts of the West Midlands into Yorkshire and fully into the Midlands. The mobile tyre fitting service intends to open new depots in Wakefield and Birmingham as part of this expansion."
In the three months to 31 December 2012, Apollo Tyres Ltd’s net sales grew 9.4 per cent to Rs 97.57 billion (£1.17 billion), while net profit jumped 86.1 per cent to 1.8 billion (£21.63 million). Operating profit for the third quarter of Apollo’s 2012-13 financial year amounted to Rs 4.1 billion (£49.27 million), up from Rs 3.3 billion a year earlier.
In its 2012 annual report, Indian manufacturer MRF Ltd predicts that the country’s domestic tyre industry will grow by eight to ten per cent in the current financial year (to 30 September 2013). This growth will most likely be accompanied by continued pressure on margins should cost issued not be addressed, it adds.
Pirelli has launched a communication project for undergraduate, postgraduate and recently graduated students, offering the chance of a two-month paid work placement in Milan, in addition to publication in the manufacturer’s 2012 Annual Report alongside artwork by New Yorker cartoonist, Liza Donnelly. The brief presented by Pirelli is simple: find the most significant word that sums up the values students would like to matter most in their future. Pirelli will send the submissions, accompanied by the students’ explanations of their choices, to a jury in order to select the 10 most representative words. These 10 words, and the accompanying reflections, will then be interpreted by Donnelly, and printed in the 2012 Report.
Managing director of Motor Wheel Service Distribution, John Ellis has presented expert testimony to the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) during last week’s (22 January) public hearing into the Roadworthiness Package. Acting in his capacity as director of the Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA), Ellis presented an introduction and background to the issue, then called for five measures, most prominently the light regulation of the supply chain to enforce existing standards and improved inspection procedures across all EU member states. Ellis, who has pursued the issues confronting the safety of commercial vehicle wheels in the UK over the last few years, said his proposed changes would make for a “far safer” commercial vehicle sector without burdening CV operators with additional costs.
Over the last five days Kwik Fit has sold more than five times the number of winter tyres than the same time last week, as drivers have taken heed of severe weather warnings and made advance preparations.
The traditionally upbeat tone of Delticom’s financial reporting was slightly muted upon release of the company’s 2012 preliminary full-year figures on 23 January. The German-based online tyre retailer described 2012 as a “challenging year” and the market environment as “difficult.” Full-year revenues amounted to 456.4 million euros, a 4.9 per cent decrease on 2011.
The joint venture lithium-ion battery systems company formed by Continental and Korea’s SK Innovation, SK Continental E-motion, officially commenced operations earlier this month after gaining approval from the relevant authorities. Continental reports that “all relevant authorities have given unrestricted approval to the antitrust application submitted by the two companies” and that all provisions of the agreement signed with SK Innovation on 23 July 2012 have come into force.
With 2012 behind us, perhaps tyre dealers can look forward to a more prosperous 2013. That is certainly the view of analysts at Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, who recently predicted a year of growth. A new market report produced by Plimsoll, which looks into the financial performance of the UK’s largest 693 Tyre Dealers, found average growth was as high as six per cent. However the 2013 Tyre Dealers report concludes that this is by no means widespread as this successful growth is being driven by a quarter of the industry – an “elite” band of 190 companies to be precise.
Continental AG expects its full-year 2012 free cash flow to come in at around 1 billion euros. Speaking at an investor’s presentation in New York, Conti CEO Dr Elmar Degenhart upped its previous assessment of about 750 million euros by a third. The statement came as a surprise to financial analysts and apparently even for the CEO himself, who reportedly only found out in the last few hours.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.