Goodyear Archives - Page 224 of 243 - Tyrepress

Founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Akron, Ohio. It is one of the oldest, biggest and best-known tyremakers in the world. Goodyear makes tyres for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, SUVs, racing cars, aeroplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery. Find all the news and analysis you need relating to Goodyear here.

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Bigger-Than-Expected Loss For Goodyear

Goodyear has reported a first quarter loss of $63.2 million; larger than many analysts expected. The biggest regional operating loss was $51.3 m, incurred by the North American Tyre operation. Europe was profitable with operating profits of $16.6 m (Q1 2001 $31.4m), as was Asia. Sam Gibara declared himself “disappointed” by the figures, but he expected the company to “make progress in the second quarter”. The loss was blamed on production cuts, currency levels and the return of stock worth $10 m when the Penske Automotive Center chain closed. Despite the figures, Goodyear’s shares rose 3.6 per cent on expectations of profitability in the second quarter.

26th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Sava Introduces New High Performance Tyre Intensa

Slovenian tyre manufacturer Sava, since 1998 owned 60 per cent by Goodyear, presented their new high performance tyre “Intensa” for middle and upper class vehicles to the press and an international group of 360 retailers, from 21 nations, in Planica at the end of March. The directional tyre, which will replace its predecessor “Rapidex”, has been developed in co-operation with the Luxembourg R&D-department of Goodyear and will appear in 27 different sizes from 185/65 R 14 86H up to low profile dimension 235/40 ZR 17 90 W.The new tyre is made at a production plant that is regarded as one of the best and most powerful within the Goodyear organisation. In the past year the 1,400 employees manufactured seven million tyres – however just 57 per cent of these had the brand name Sava on their sidewall. The other 43 per cent were other group brands – Goodyear, Dunlop, Fulda, Debica and, until the end of 2001, some sizes of Kelly. All these brands are produced in parallel at the plant located in Kranj. The turnover of Sava could be increased 13 per cent up to 210.7 million US-Dollar under the leadership of Richard A. Johnson, former European finance boss of Goodyear. This year Sava aims to reach a result of 7.3 million units and a turnover of more than 233 million US-Dollar. Today, it is almost exclusively passenger car and light truck tyres that are manufactured in the production facility. The production of truck tyres has been shifted towards other plants in Poland and Turkey in recent years. Further foreign markets for the brand, which is well known in Central and Eastern Europe, include Western Europe, but especially South America, Middle East and Asia. Further highlights in the event programme were the guided tour through the factory in Kranj as well as a visit to the World-Cup final in ski-flying which is traditionally held in Planica.

17th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Re-Election Of Goodyear Directors

Goodyear shareholders have re-elected three directors to the company’s board for three year terms. The three are: Sam Gibara (chairman and CEO), William J. Hudson (retires president and CEO of AMP Inc.) and Martin D. Walker (retired chairman and CEO of M.A.). Goodyear also declared a quarterly dividend of 12 cents per share.

16th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear: Annual Shareholder Meeting

This monday Goodyear holds its shareholder meeting in Akron/Ohio. In daily newspapers, as well as in business papers, complacent-sounding analysts are quoted, who point the finger at what Gibara has promised and failed to deliver in recent years. The loss of 203.6 million US-Dollars was not according to plan. The long term debt at 31st December 2001, at 3.1 bn US$, passed another milestone (2000: 2.4 billion US$). And it is known that the first quarter of this year also was disappointing. The analysts agree that there will be no improvements before the second half of the year.

15th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Loses Big Customers Due To Kmart Insolvency

Mass-Merchandiser Kmart, one of the biggest competitors of US-Giant Wal-Mart, filed for chapter 11 some months ago, trying to restructure the group and avoid a total crash. Because of this crisis 563 Penske Auto-Service Centers closed last week. These centers were operated by Penske Auto Centers (PAC) at Kmart locations. PAC is owned 1/3 by Kmart and 2/3 by Penske corporation. Penske Auto Centers used to be the biggest independent tyre dealer in the US and was one of the important key-customers of the Goodyear-group.

15th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Expansion For South Pacific Tyres

South Pacific Tyres, the jv between Australia’s Pacific Dunlop and Goodyear of the USA, is set to increase production at its plant in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Production at the plant is due to rise by 65 per cent over the next year, creating 140 new jobs. In unit terms, output will rise by one million tyres, to 2.4 million tyres a year. Production will go from 24 hours a day, five days a week, to 24 hours, seven days. 60 new sizes of tyre will be introduced into the factory, many coming from South Pacific factories in Australia.

9th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Oil Sheikhs Make The Americans Worry

Shares at Goodyear and Cooper are falling. At Goodyear especially, internal factors are not being helped by rising oil prices, which increase costs and affect the spending power of consumers. This has led to weaker-than-expected demand for new cars. Wall Street analysts, such as Deutsche Bank Research, are warning of possible inflationary pressure, but they do not want to sound too pessimistic.

5th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Plant Expansion For Goodyear

At a time when Goodyear is selling and downsizing, the company has announced a 4.7 million Dollar expansion at its Asheboro, North Carolina plant. The plant manufactures steel wire for tyres, hoses and conveyors. The expansion will involve the expansion of the workforce by 20.

28th March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

J. D. Power OE Tyre Satisfaction Study

For the fourth year running, Michelin ranks highest in the UK OE tyre satisfaction study, receiving the highest ratings for durability; the factor rated as most important by UK consumers. In second place were Pirelli and Kumho, with the latter scoring well because owners experience few problems with the brand. The survey questions over 3,000 UK motorists in their first year of car ownership, regarding tyre quality, performance and brand image. Following the top three brands, three further brands (Bridgestone, Dunlop and Goodyear) al scored the same. Bridgestone received highest marks in the study for traction/safety, while Goodyear and Pirelli tied for top spot in tyre design.

25th March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Three Awards For Goodyear From Toyota

The Toyota Motor Corp. presented Goodyear with two awards at its annual suppliers meeting in Nagoya Japan and another award was presented to Goodyear in the USA. First was a Global Contribution Award for Goodyear’s supply performance at Toyota’s 15 plants worldwide. The second award was a “Value Award – Superior” for technical approvals and tyre development on Corolla and Camry cars. The North American award is a Certificate of Achievement for delivery performance through 2001.

22nd March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Year To Date Performance From Goodyear

Goodyear has released details of the group’s performance in various markets, for the year to date, to end February. Brief details are as follows:North American Tire: February industry shipments of consumer replacement tyres were 8 per cent up on last year. Goodyear shipments to dealers were flat, as some dealers pre-bought at the end of last year. Goodyear shipped 400,000 tyres as part of the Ford replacement programme. Industry shipments of commercial tyres were 14 per cent up on last year’s levels. Goodyear’s shipments were up, but not as high as the industry figure. Industry shipments of OE tyres were up 10 per cent for car tyres and down 17 per cent for commercial tyres. Goodyear’s unit shipments outperformed the industry.European Union: Consumer replacement tyres: industry shipments + 3 p.c. Goodyear shipments lower. Commercial replacement tyres: industry shipments – 6 p.c. Goodyear shipments reflect this figure. Consumer OE tyres: both industry and Goodyear shipments up. Commercial OE tyres: both industry and Goodyear shipments down.Eastern Europe: No segmentation available, but Goodyear replacement tyre sales were up, due mainly to market recoveries in South Africa and Turkey. Goodyear OE tyre sales were down slightly.Latin America: Goodyear replacement tyre sales down, mainly in Brazil and Argentina. OE sales were up. Currencies in Brazil and Mexico were revalued, but this was offset by devaluations in Argentina and Venezuela.Asia: Replacement tyre sales were up from last year, while OE unit sales were slightly down. Improved volumes in China and India helped improve operating margins over last year.

21st March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear: Good Or Bad News?

According to DB analyst R. Lache from NY, quoted in a business newspaper in the US, the problem for Goodyear at the moment is that the manufacturer has cut high discounts for 8 distributors, who are now reluctant to buy tyres from Goodyear, thus putting more pressure on the company. The good news is that Goodyear is sticking to higher prices. Despite the fact that the analyst is sticking to his 36 US$ expectation, he reduced the share from “Strong Buy” to “Buy”.

21st March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Shares In Free Fall

Due to the unexpectedly weak sales in the first two months, Goodyear’s share price yesterday fell by more than 9 per cent in a few hours. Analysts regard some of the problems as self-inflicted and reduced the share from “Buy” to “Market Perform”.

21st March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Employees Hold 22 Per Cent Of Stock

In conversation with analysts, Goodyear disclosed that it holds 35 million Goodyear shares in its 401 K Savings Plan, 20 million from salaried employees and 15 million from blue collar workers. This means that Goodyear employees hold 22 per cent of outstanding Goodyear stock. Some analysts, including those from Deutsche Bank, are sticking to their “buy” recommendation.

18th March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Round Two: Evans Versus Gibara

Some weeks ago, Akron Beacon Journal business columnist Diane Evans stressed the point that Goodyear bonds have become “junk bonds”. Who could ever have imagined that, she asked? In a letter to the editor, Gibara said that Evans seemed to criticise him constantly and, more importantly, not give the readers the full facts, which forced him to answer back in the name of all the good Goodyear associates. The issue rumbles on – the supervisory board has given Gibara a bonus of US$ 1.25 million, which Evans believes is not a good decision. Furthermore, it has become obvious that a power struggle is going on within the group, between the two highest-ranking managers.

15th March 2002/by Tyrepress Editors