Preliminary results for the first quarter of The Goodyear Tire Rubber Company’s 2020 financial year were published today, with the company confirming its fiscal performance during the three months to 31 March was “greatly affected by the economic disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.” Tyre unit volumes declined 18 per cent year-on-year to approximately 31 million units and sales dropped 16.7 per cent to around US$3.0 billion.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced the re-election of 12 members of its Board of Directors to new one-year terms at the company’s virtual annual shareholder meeting on Monday.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber says its road testing and customer field tests involving connected tyres recently surpassed the 3-million-mile mark with initial studies showing these connected tyres can reduce stopping distance lost between a new and worn tyre by 30 per cent.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has responded to the coronavirus outbreak in China by temporarily closing its headquarters in Shanghai and the Goodyear Dalian Tire co. Ltd. manufacturing facility in Pulandian (Liaoning Province). Both facilities are expected to remain closed until at least Sunday.
Directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company have declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.16 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable 2 March 2020 to shareholders of record on 3 February 2020. The payout represents an annual rate of 64 cents per share.
As of 1 November, Andy Traicoff will take over as vice president consumer of Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Asia Pacific business unit. He moves to this role from his current jobs as vice president, customer experience of the company’s Americas business unit, a position he has held since October 2018. Traicoff will report to Ryan Patterson, president of Goodyear Asia Pacific.
The U.S. Senator representing the home state of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has written to the tyre maker, imploring it to improve the renumeration and treatment it gives workers at its plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Sherrod Brown, Senator for Ohio, urged Richard Kramer, Goodyear’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, to “take immediate steps” to improve both. He also criticised Goodyear’s decision to recently prevent Members of the United States Congress from touring the facility.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber says its decision to modernise two tyre factories in Germany, and in doing so lay off around 1,100 workers, will cut the tyre maker’s costs by US$60 million to $70 million a year. Chief financial officer Darren Wells anticipates that Goodyear will feel the “full benefit” of these additional earnings by 2022.
There’s little good news to be found in the latest financial results from Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Sales and unit volumes were lower in the first half of this year, respectively dropping 5.7 per cent to US$7.2 billion and 3.3 per cent to 75.4 million units. The tyre maker also reported a net loss of US$7 million for the six months to 30 June 2019, a contrast to the net income of $232 million announced a year earlier; this result includes several significant items, most notably $107 million in rationalisation charges that are primarily related to modernisation plans and layoffs at two tyre plants in Germany.
Teams from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will take to the track for ‘Prologue’ pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya tomorrow. One of the most significant moments of this anticipated public test session will be the return of Goodyear to international competition.
Sales and income were down at Goodyear Tire & Rubber in the first quarter of this year. Revenue in the three months to 31 March 2019 declined six per cent to US$3.6 billion; Goodyear attributes this result to unfavourable exchange rates and lower volume in its international businesses. The company reported first quarter segment operating income of $190 million in 2019, down from $281 million a year ago.
David E. Phillips, Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s associate general counsel, Americas, has been appointed the company’s senior vice-president and general counsel. He begins in this new role on 4 June.
A total of US$36 million has been set aside to increase OTR tyre production at the Goodyear plant in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg. The investment will also fund process improvements at the facility.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has reported Q3 2018 sales of US$3.9 billion, slightly up on a year earlier; improved volume, price/mix and higher sales in other tyre-related businesses were “substantially offset” by unfavourable foreign currency translation.
Stephen R. McClellan is the new chairman of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association’s (USTMA) Board of Directors. The president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s Americas business unit began in this role on 3 October and will serve a two-year term. McClellan succeeds Jim Hawk, chairman, Toyo Holdings of America, Inc., who served as chairman of the USTMA Board since 2016.
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