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South Korean Manufacturers Sign OE Deals

South Korea’s two leading tyre manufacturers have each entered into original equipment agreements with international manufacturers. The larger of the two deals has been signed by Kumho, who has agreed to supply 400,000 tyres to Chrysler for the company’s Dodge Journey SUV. The value of the agreement has not been disclosed.

The deal signed by Hankook also involves SUV tyres. The Korean company will supply 70,000 tyres for the Volkswagen Tiguan compact SUV. Again, financial details of the OE supply contract have not as yet been made available.

16th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Maha UK Presents New Management Team

Following the retirement of Gus Gregory from Maha UK Ltd, Neil Ebbs has been appointed as managing director from 1 January 2008. Ebbs, who is 45, has been in the garage equipment industry for more than 20 years. He joined Maha in 2004 to start a new project department which has been very successful and has expanded to keep up with demand from customers. Kevin Howard, who has been with Maha UK since the start in 1997, has taken on a new role as business development manager and will be responsible for expanding the customer base, product range and continued Dynamometer sales.

Catherine Gregory and Louis Tunmore, also both founder members of Maha UK, will continue to manage their successful roles and are key members to the success of the company. Catherine Gregory will now be in charge of all the financial and personnel aspects of MAHA. Tunmore, as after sales manager, now controls the 25 engineers and 5 office staff-strong service department.

14th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

BKT to Establish New Facility, Increase Capacity

Balkrishna Tyres is reported to be planning a new facility within the Special Economic Zone in Gujarat, northwest India. An investment of Rs 5 billion (£64.7 million) will go into the facility over a three-year period starting in the 2009 financial year, with the completed plant expected to have an annual output of 75,000 tonnes. The company’s head of finance, B K Bansal, told local media “we are analysing two to three Special Economic Zones in Gujarat and are in talks for acquisition of land, though nothing has been finalised as yet.”

10th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bekaert to issue 100 million euros in 5-year notes

Steel and wire cord manufacturer Bekaert announced on January 8 that it will issue five-year notes for a total consideration of 100 million euros in the form of a public offering in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The notes will be available in 1,000 euro denominations, with the subscription period running from January 10 to February 11, 2008, subject to early closing. The issue price is set at 101.80 per cent of the nominal value of each note, with a coupon of 5.30 per cent annually. Application has been made to list the notes on Euronext Brussels.

The Fortis and KBC banking groups will act jointly as financial intermediaries and lead managers for this transaction. The purpose of the issue, reports Bekaert, is to refinance the company’s existing credit lines and short term commercial paper, and to finance future growth initiatives.

8th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Not-so-Magic Roundabouts Annoy Drivers

Motorists in the Lancashire town of Skelmersdale claim that the large number of roundabouts in the town is the cause of premature tyre wear, which is both expensive and potentially dangerous. Apparently, Skelmersdale boasts more than 40 roundabouts, including Half Mile Island, which is said to be the biggest in the world and taxi drivers and tyre fitters have reported extremely high rates of tyre wear. Said John Kieran, of Skelmersdale Express Tyres: “All the cabbies constantly have to have their tyres turned around because they wear out so quickly, especially on the outside of the passenger side”.

Cabbie Steven Crawley reckons the roundabouts in Skelmersdale wear his tyres down so much he gets through about six sets a year. He said: “My tyres only last about two months at the most and I have to turn them around every six weeks”. So widespread is the problem that it has been given the name of the “Skem Rash”.

4th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Makes More Mexico JV Appointments

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has reshuffled its finance team following the recently announced formation of its joint venture company in Mexico. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company de Mexico, is responsible for the marketing, sales and distribution of Cooper and Pneustone brands. Currently, the Pneustone brand is the house brand of Llanti Systems, a division of Grupo Dexel, a Mexico company with entities involved in transportation, energy distribution, auto parts, specialty equipment and tyre production.

The headquarters for Cooper Tire & Rubber Company de Mexico is in Querétaro, Mexico, the site of the headquarters for Grupo Dexel. A management team has been put into place under the leadership of Jim Smith, the newly appointed general director. Smith was formerly Cooper’s plant controller at the Texarkana, Arkansas, tyre manufacturing plant. Chris Barbara, formerly Cooper’s manager of sales training, will assist Smith as director of marketing. These two individuals, along with Hugo Ybarra, director of sales, will lead the core team primarily responsible for all activities associated with the new trading company.

3rd January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Delticom Forecasts 21% Increase in Revenues

German based online tyre retailer Delticom AG has published its forecast for the current fiscal year 2007 as a reaction to industry figures published yesterday by the German Tyre and Vulcanisation Industry Association BRV, as well as in response to what the company calls irritations in the financial markets with regards to the course of Delticom’s business during the current fourth quarter. In this forecast, Delticom’s Managing Board forecasts revenues of 210 to 215 million euros, an increase of more than 21 per cent over the previous year (173 million euros).

14th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Concludes Convertible Note Exchange

Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced on December 6 the results of a previously announced offer to exchange its outstanding four per cent Convertible Senior Notes due June 15, 2034 for a cash payment and shares of its common stock. Note holders tendered approximately US$346 million aggregate principal amount of convertible notes in exchange for approximately 28.7 million shares of common stock plus a total cash payment of approximately $23 million. Approximately 99 per cent of the principal amount of the outstanding convertible notes was tendered in the exchange offer. A total of approximately $4 million principal amount of convertible notes remains outstanding.

7th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Releases 2007 Environmental Report

The Yokohama Rubber Co has produced an English language version of the company’s “Environmental and Social Report 2007”, and a PDF file of this report has been posted on the Yokohama Rubber website. It can be viewed at: http://www.yrc-pressroom. jp/env_en. The 56-page document presents environment related data from 20 of the group’s domestic and overseas production sites plus the Yokohama Rubber headquarters and the group’s companies in Japan. The release of the PDF has been accompanied by the introduction of a new section of the Yokohama website, where information on the company’s environmental and social activities can be found.

3rd December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Delticom Pre-tax Profits up 69%

Delticom AG, Europe’s leading Internet tyre retailer, has increased revenues by approximately 34 per cent year-on-year in the first 9 months of this year to 146 million euros (2006: 108.9 million euros). EBIT rose by 69 per cent to 6.9 million euros (previous year: 4.1 million). At the same time, net income for the period was up by 92 per cent to 4.8 million (previous year: 2.5 million euros).

26th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Sector is India’s Second Best Performer

An analysis of India’s manufacturing sectors, reported in Indian daily The Financial Express, has revealed that the tyre sector, after electronics, was the best performer during the July to September 2007 period. The total net profit figure of the eight tyre companies under the spotlight grew by 139.9 per cent to Rs 1.175 billion (£14.56 million) during the three month period, as opposed to Rs 489.90 million (£6.07 million) during July to September 2006. Of these eight firms, CEAT showed a particularly significant growth in net profit, increasing by 565.8 per cent to RS 255 million (£3.16 million) from Rs 38.3 million (£474,600) a year earlier. The total sales of this group of tyremakers increase by 4.52 per cent during the same three-month period.

20th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Feel the Effect of Rising Material Costs Next Year

Thomson Financial has reported comments made by Michelin CFO Jean-Dominique Senard to the effect that the increased prices now being paid for the raw materials used in tyre production will “have an impact” on the group’s 2008 results, although he added that it is too early to indicate the extent of this impact.

“The recent movements that we have experienced are going to have an impact and the question is how much,” said Senard. A clearer picture of the effect raw material prices have had will most likely be provided early next year when Michelin’s 2007 full year results are made public, he added. For 2007 the impact of rising raw materials upon annual results should be, Senard reports, around 60 million euros, give or take a few million.

20th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Thomas P. Capo Named Director of Cooper Tire & Rubber

Cooper Tire & Rubber announced on November 15 that its Board of Directors has named Thomas P. Capo as a director of the company. Mr. Capo serves as chairman of the board for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc, a $1.7 billion car rental company, and also serves as co-chairman of the board of Microheat Inc., a privately held tier-one supplier to the automotive industry. Mr. Capo is an advisor on business, financial and investment strategy to various companies and organisations. He previously served on the boards of JLG Industries Inc., a $2.3 billion access equipment producer, and Sonic Automotive Inc., an $8.0 billion automotive retailer.

Mr. Capo served as senior vice president and treasurer of DaimlerChrysler Corporation from 1998-2000. Prior to 1998, he held the positions of vice president and treasurer of the Chrysler Corporation and vice president and controller of Chrysler Financial Corporation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance, a master’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in economics, from the University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Michigan.

19th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Refutes News on Possible RE Unit Takeover

Pirelli & C. SpA has denied a news article, released by Italian financial newspaper Milano Finanza, that the company is considering a possible extraordinary operation such as a delisting or a takeover of its Pirelli RE unit. A press release from Pirelli, made public on November 14, reads in full that “Pirelli & C. SpA, with reference to press indiscretions relating to possible extraordinary transactions regarding Pirelli RE, indicates that at this time there are no such hypotheses under review.” Milano Finanza wrote that Pirelli was considering the possibility of delisting Pirelli RE or launching a friendly takeover of the unit.

15th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Phillips Carbon Black to Expand Capacity

India’s RPG Enterprises is looking to boost capacities at its Phillips Carbon Black (PCBL) subsidiary. The Economic Times in India reports the company is establishing a 75,000 tonnes per annum greenfield carbon black manufacturing unit in the west Indian state of Gujarat, along with a 16 megawatt power plant. It also intends to increase capacity at its facility in the state of Kerala by 50,000 tonnes per annum to 85,000 tonnes.

RPG Enterprises vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka told the Indian financial daily “the move is expected to catapult PCBL globally to the sixth rank in terms of the manufacturing capacity over the next two years from ninth now.” The total outlay for the proposed projects, at both greenfield and established sites, is estimated to be Rs 5,500,000,000 (£67.3 million) and will be funded by a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals, Mr. Goenka added. The greenfield facility alone will require an investment of Rs 3,500,000,000 (£42.8 million).

13th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors