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Bandvulc Cuts 20 Jobs

Leading retread manufacturer and fleet service provider, Bandvulc is to shed about 20 jobs at its factory due to reduced commercial haulage. The company, which has contracts with most of the leading supermarket fleets and the likes of Boots and frozen food giant Yearsley Group, has previously performed well in recessions as a result of fleets trying to save money. However, this time around managing director Patrick O’Connell has highlighted the fact that “smaller local firms,” such as Bandvulc, are not benefiting from large scale Government investment.

As a result the firm has reportedly “started the process” of reducing its workforce by about 20. “Bandvulc is a family company which is owned and operates locally. It is therefore especially difficult for us to face the fact that we must reduce the number of our employees. We are acutely aware of the problem it causes those affected, but we must run a viable company which will be strong and able to capitalise on the upturn when it comes to again to create good jobs,” O’Connell told thisiscornwall.co.uk.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

British Carmakers Overtaken On Continent, Race for Euro Funds

Only two UK-based car manufacturers have applied for European financial support, leading the Financial Times to conclude that the British automotive sector is being slow in applying. According to FT, cabinet ministers don’t want UK-based companies to miss out on European Investment Bank funding which is said to be unlikely to exceed 7 billion euros (£6.5 billion), significantly less than the 40 billion euros the industry had previously sought. This is in addition the government’s £2.5 billion automotive support package, which includes £1.3 billion of guarantees to back loans from the European Investment Bank and £1 billion of guarantees for other loans.

According to the FT, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover have both applied for EIB financing to support research and development work. Jaguar said it was waiting for Wednesday’s meeting to get details of the non-EIB guarantees. Neither General Motors nor Ford Motor had yet applied for EIB-backed loans in the UK, the companies said.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Land Rover to Receive £27 million Government Grant

Jaguar Land Rover is to receive a government grant of up to £27 million to help develop the “smallest, lightest and most efficient” vehicle it has produced. The announcement came as motor industry representatives met in London to discuss a £2.3bn support package. According to BBC News, the new model will be made at the company’s Halewood plant in Merseyside. The project will cost £400 million and a final decision on whether to proceed with production is due later this year.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

CBp, Triputra Sign 20-year Carbon Black Replacement Deal

CBp Carbon Industries, Inc. has announced the signing of a 20-year sale agreement with Indonesia’s Triputra Group, a company CBp cites as to be the world’s largest producer and supplier of raw rubber to the tyre industry. The agreement provides, as and when CBp can deliver, that for the first ten years Triputra will take all deliveries up to 200,000 tonnes per year of CBp’s carbon black replacement ‘CBp Carbon Green’ at market discount and for 500,000 tonnes a year for the following ten years at market discount. CBp’s deliveries to Triputra are optional and the company says they will not take place unless it is profitable to do so.

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Newspaper: Schaeffler May Retain Under 20%

Schaeffler Group’s owners will end up with a fifth or less of the company in the event that creditor banks take control of the automotive supplier, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The German newspaper added that the government doesn’t plan to grant aid to the company, without citing a source. Meanwhile competitor Bosch denied reports that it had been in talks to buy Schaeffler Group.

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

TRIB’s Brodsky to Give Retreading Presentation at Autopromotec

Not only will the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) be exhibiting at the Autopromotec show between may 20 and 24, 2009, the organisation’s managing director has been invited by the sponsors of the exhibition to make a presentation titled, “How the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau Helps to Promote and Defend the Retread and Tire Repair Industries Worldwide”. Brodsky’s presentation will take place on Thursday, May 21 at 4:00pm.

3rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli ‘Confident’ Burton Jobs Can Be Saved

Although production at Pirelli’s factory in Burton has lately been at a standstill, plant management are speaking positively about the future of the site and the jobs there – however it seems some level of cooperation from the worker’s unions will be needed.

2nd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Merkel: Loan Guarantees are ‘Right Tool’ for Schaeffler

Various online news sources are quoting German Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying that liquidity guarantees would be the right tool to help companies asking for public aid, such as Schaeffler Group. Chancellor Merkel said she has not seen a restructuring plan from either Schaeffler or car maker Opel, which is also requesting government support, yet. “I regard [liquidity] guarantees as the tool we are eyeing,” Merkel told journalists, according to Dow Jones. “Germany has an interest in strengthening companies which have a strong foundation,” Reuters quoted Merkel as saying.

Meanwhile, Schaeffler continues to investigate the possibility of debt-for-equity swaps as a means of paying off some of the multi-billion euro loan it borrowed to buy Continental AG. According to Bloomberg, financial institutions such as government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc – which backed Schaeffler’s takeover of Conti – may “saddle taxpayers with distressed assets as they negotiate debt-for-equity swaps with failing corporate borrowers.”

26th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Carlisle Begins Two Week Shutdown

Pirelli’s Carlisle tyre production plant has today halted production for two weeks. An official statement issued by the company explained that the factory has been forced to close until 4 March in combat the effects of the global economic downturn. It is the second shutdown at the plant, which employs around 1000 people, this year. Further shutdowns have not been ruled out.

“Pirelli Industrial in the UK has already taken steps to mitigate the effect on employees by reducing to zero overtime, an extended Christmas and New Year break, and announcing a further shutdown in February 2009,” the statement explained, blaming the “spectacular fall in production experienced in the car industry.”

24th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler Willing to Sell Up to Save Company

Schaeffler Group’s billionaire owners (Maria-Elisabeth and son Georg Schaeffler) are reportedly willing to sell a significant amount of the family owned company in order to avoid a break-up of the automotive supplier. Initial reports in Thomson’s Merger News suggested Schaeffler’s owners were prepared to sell up to 75 per cent of the group in order to hold onto an anchor investment and prevent a break-up of the company. However, six hours later, Forbes quoted Detlef Sieverdingbeck, the firm’s spokesman, as saying that there is “no bottom or top limit.”

The latest developments are being seen as a further concession designed to convince the German government to give Schaeffler emergency support. 24 hours earlier Schaeffler’s owners signed a co-determination pact with the union that represents workers at both the Schaeffler Group and Continental AG businesses. Analysts observed that Schaeffler’s willingness to sell its stock and cosy up to the unions shows just how precarious the situation is for both the Schaeffler Group and Continental AG.

During the day’s trading Forbes reported that Continental had plummeted 21 per cent to 10.11 euros, the stock’s sharpest fall for 16 years.

24th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Lockout Declared at MRF’s Puducherry Factory

Indian manufacturer MRF has declared a lockout at its Puducherry plant in Southeast India following what has been described as ‘labour unrest’. The company has been facing such problems at its other facilities for more than a year, most dramatically seen when its Tiruvottiyur plant, near Chennai experienced a lockout in late 2007 and early 2008. At this time, the Tamil Nadu state government, its patience tested, beseeched the company to resolve its differences with employees – and threatened to take over the factory if it failed to do so.

Company officials have not yet commented on the latest developments.

23rd February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler Confirms Hetmann Has Resigned

Schaeffler Group has confirmed that the company’s chief financial officer, Thomas Hetmann, has left due to “differences of opinion regarding the future strategic concept of the Schaeffler Group.” According to an official statement released by the company, Hetmann has left by “mutual agreement” and will be replaced by Mary Jo Gresens, who will act as a consultant. Gresens was previously CFO at the automotive supplier between 1999 and 2006.

Meanwhile, Forbes has reported that Schaeffler is to present a revised restructuring plan to the German government in the next two week. A source “familiar with the matter” told the business magazine that the move, a requirement for receiving state aid, follows a 20 per cent drop in new orders at the company.

18th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Survey Shows Motorists Are Downsizing

A survey by LV= car insurance has revealed that almost one in five UK drivers (19 per cent) has downsized or sold one of their cars since the onset of the credit crunch in a bid to save money. The main reason given by motorists for downsizing their vehicle over the last eighteen months was to save money in fuel (61 per cent) while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they did it to cut the cost of road tax. Those who downsized their vehicle estimate they have already saved an average £309.

Despite the emphasis from the Government on ‘greener’ driving, only one in six (15 per cent) of those who had downsized cited environmental concerns as part of their decision.

17th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

SPD May Support Schaeffler State Aid

Germany’s Social Democratic party (SPD) is reportedly “open in principle” Continental AG major shareholder Schaeffler Group with state aid, SPD chairman Franz Muentefering told reporters in Berlin. “Situations can arise in which you need to help many, many families in order to prevent a catastrophe…Then you need to do it,” Muentefering added. The politician didn’t give any details of how government discussions on how the government’s discussions with Schaeffler could work out.

16th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

IPIC Refutes Schaeffler/Conti Acquisition News

The Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) denied on February 12 it was negotiating to acquire a share in Schaeffler or its 49.9 per cent owned subsidiary Continental. In a statement, IPIC managing director Khadem al-Qubaisi said “this speculation has surfaced recently in the German media. We are quite surprised that this has arisen at all.”

12th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors