The list of internal candidates proposed for the Hankook Tire & Technology Board of Directors and approved during the shareholders’ meeting on 28 March 2024 does not include chairman Cho Hyun-bum. Cho withdrew his own proposal for reappointment as an internal director on 25 March 2024.
CDP Carbon Management Sector Honors for Hankook Tire & Technology (Hankook Tire). The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Korea Committee hosted its Climate Change and Water Security Awards on 13 March. Based upon the CDP Climate Change Response Project’s evaluation of more than 23,000 global companies, the Committee acknowledged Hankook Tire within the Consumer Discretionary awards category. The tyre maker achieved an A- rating in the evaluation, one of only 25 Korean companies achieving this distinction.
Together with two other South Korean firms, Hankook Tire & Technology has developed the country’s first tyre using cord fibre sourced from chemically recycled PET. The tyre maker partnered with SK chemicals and Hyosung Advanced Materials to develop Hankook iON tyres containing “circular recycled PET fibre tyre cords.” The resulting product is the first tyre to wear the ISCC Plus certification logo.
With sales of KRW 8,939.6 billion (£5.3 billion) and an operating profit of KRW 1,327.9 billion (£783.5 million), in 2023 Hankook Tire & Technology achieved the “best performance since its establishment.” Sales were up 6.5 per cent year-on-year, while operating profit increased 88.1 per cent. According to Hankook Tire, these results “solidify” the company’s position as a “prominent, top-tier global brand.”
With an investment of KRW 758.95 billion (£466.12 million), Hankook Tire & Technology will add truck and bus radial production to its site in Rácalmás, Hungary. The company expects the new production line to be completed by 2027, with an initial capacity to produce around 800,000 tyres annually. The expansion will create approximately 450 new jobs.
Why survey people when you can draw upon all the wisdom of the internet? Hankook Tire & Technology has turned to artificial intelligence to gain insights into consumer attitudes towards electric vehicles, developing a Voice of Customer (VOC) analysis system based upon ChatGPT for this purpose. The Korean firm collaborated with data cloud computing companies Amazon Web Services and Snowflake to build an integrated VOC data analysis system.
The inaugural meeting of the Tire-to-Tire Circular Economy Model consortium took place at Hankook Tire & Technology’s Technodome facility in Daejeon, South Korea on 1 November. The Hankook Tire-initiated consortium aims to create a sustainable business model for end-of-life tyres in Korea by “designing innovative upcycling processes” for turning them into new tyres.
Hankook Tire & Technology reports consolidated sales of KRW 2,340.0 billion (£1.4 billion) and an operating profit of KRW 396.3 billion (£243.9 million) for Q3 2023. These results respectively represent year-on-year increases of 1.8% and 106%.
According to local media, Hankook Tire & Technology is gearing up to establish its own subsidiary in Romania in order to end its reliance upon third-party distributors in this market.
Half a year after a major fire caused extensive damage to its tyre factory in Daejeon, South Korea, Hankook Tire & Technology has recommenced some tyre production within the facility. In a disclosure to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the company reports that it approved the resumption of production at the site’s Plant 1 facility on 1 September 2023.
Hankook Tire & Technology has published its 2022/23 ESG Report, highlighting the company’s sustainability activities, performance, and mid- and long-term strategies for the year. The report, Innovation for a Sustainable Future, is the 14th report published since 2010 and provides an overview of Hankook Tire’s performance in three primary categories: Eco-Value Chain, Sustainable Product, and Responsible Engagement.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Hankook Tire & Technology’s near-term 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and target of achieving net-zero by 2050. The tyre maker says this approval will help it “gain momentum in the realisation of its 2050 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap.”
Hankook Tire & Technology reports increasing its revenue and operating profit in Q2 2023 despite a difficult business environment. Revenues were up 11 per cent year-on-year to KRW 2.2634 trillion (£1.37 billion, US$1.77 million), and operating profit jumped 41.6 per cent to KRW 248.2 billion (£150.41 million, $194.0 million). At 11.0 per cent, operating margin was 2.4 percentage points higher than in Q2 2022.
Further legal issues for Hankook Tire & Technology chairman Cho Hyun-bum, with prosecutors seeking to combine the two charges against him into a single indictment. Cho, who was indicted without detention on 21 July for breach of trust, is already on trial for allegedly embezzling approximately 20 billion won (£12.1 million).
To aid its development of eco-friendly tyres, Hankook Tire & Technology has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with petrochemical company Kumho Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (KKPC). Amongst other things, the MoU ensures Hankook Tire is first in line to receive KKPC’s Eco Solution-polymerised Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (Eco-SSBR) at “a fair price” once commercial its production commences in 2026.
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