India
Aditya Birla Nuvo has announced plans to double its proposed greenfield expansion in the western region from 60,000 tonnes per annum to 120,000 tonnes per annum to capitalise on the rapidly growing tyre sector in India. The move would reportedly make Aditya Birla Nuvo the largest producer of carbon black in the domestic market, overtaking RPG Group-controlled Philips Carbon Black Company.
Shares in Goodyear India jumped almost 10 per cent from Rs 159.30 (£1.87) to Rs 175.20 (£2.06) on March 26. More than 40,000 shares were traded over the counter, treble the two-week average volume for Goodyear shares. This increase followed the announcement that the company would pay a dividend of Rs 5 (£0.06) a share for the year ended December 31, 2006.
Apollo Tyres has diversified into the healthcare sector and is in the final stages of readying its new specialty hospital in Gurgaon, near the capital New Delhi. Named ‘Artemis Health Sciences’ (AHS), the Rs 2.1 billion (£24.6 million) 260 bed hospital is located on an 8.3 acre site, and plans are already in the pipeline for a further 240 beds to be added during a second phase of development.
“This is the first of similar ventures we have planned over the next seven-eight years. We will focus on cardiology, oncology and orthopaedics in these hospitals,” said AHS chief operating officer Somnath Chakarborty told local media.
As reported yesterday, Goodyear India has stated that a meeting of the company’s board of directors will be held on March 25 to review the annual financial results for the year ended December. 31, 2006, and to recommend the payment of dividend, if any.
As of March 21 Goodyear India shares were trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 143.65 (£1.68), down Rs 0.55 or 0.38 per cent.
The International Rubber Study Group has warned that supplies of natural rubber will remain constrained until at least 2012 as current levels of production are not keeping pace with rising demand from China and India. The group’s secretary-general, Hidde Smit, even warned that output in Malaysia, the world’s third largest rubber producer, is expected to fall below 1 million metric tonnes by 2020 from its current annual level of 1.2 million tonnes due to farmers cutting down rubber trees and replacing them with oil palms.
The price of natural rubber has more than doubled since 2002, prompting farmers in Thailand and Vietnam, the world’s largest and fifth-largest producers, to plant more trees,. These will take about five years to reach commercial production. “It’s been a very tight market that we’ve been experiencing since 2002,” Smit said. He added that this situation would continue until about 2012, when current new planting in other countries enter production.
Goodyear India has stated that a meeting of the company’s board of directors will be held on March 25 to review the annual financial results for the year ended December. 31, 2006, and it is reported that the board will recommend the payment of a dividend.
The company operates two manufacturing facilities in India, one of which, the Ballabhgarh plant near Delhi, has recently been the subject of a £4.7 million expansion program aimed at doubling farm tyre production to 700 units a day. The close proximity of the Ballabhgarh plant to the factories of three main tractor manufacturers – Eicher, Escorts and Punjab Tractors – was instrumental in the decision to expand the Goodyear facility.
As of March 21 Goodyear India shares were trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 143.65 (£1.68), down Rs 0.55 or 0.38 per cent.
The next generation of the Poddar family, who control the £175 million Siyaram group, is getting ready to take the baton from their elders. Rajeev Poddar has recently joined his father Arvind at the group’s flagship company, Balkrishna Industries, which manufactures OTR and agricultural tyres in India under the BKT brand name. Avnish and Gaurav Poddar have also joined the family controlled business, this time taking on roles at Siyaram Silk Mills, the group’s textile business.
The Poddar family recently undertook a management restructuring of the Siyaram group’s subsidiary companies, confirming management of Balkrishna Industries by Vinod and Arvind Poddar, sons of the late Mahavirprasad Poddar. The other branch of the Poddar family, the sons of Dharaprasad Poddar, remain in charge of the company’s textile business. However both families continue to hold equal stakes in each of the group’s companies.
Last year the Poddars sold a 7.43 per cent stake in Balkrishna Industries to private equity firms Evercore and Chryscapital in order to fund the company’s future expansion plans.
Dunlop India Ltd shares are ready to trade on India’s stock exchanges again more than four years after being de-listed following the non-payment of listing fees. India’s Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has asked stock exchanges throughout the country to lift any remaining suspensions imposed on the tyremaker.
According to a statement released by Dunlop India, the March 16 order given by the BIFR directed the stock exchanges in Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Delhi to lift suspension and also directed both India’s National Securities Depository (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (CSDL) to issue identification numbers for demat of the shares.
The statement also gave news that the BIFR order permitted the company to issue 27 million new shares valued at Rs 10 each (£0.012) by April 15, 2007 and increase the authorised capital from the current level of £8.17 million up to £8.76 million. The tyremaker’s current paid up capital is £5.25 million but after the proposed rights offer this will increase to £8.4 million.
Taiwanese tyremaker Federal Tyres has entered into an agreement with Dubai-based tyre distributor Al Saeedi Middle East to import tyres into the United Arab Emirates, a market into which more than six million tyres are imported each year.
Federal Corporation president Chen Da stated that not only have the levels of imports entering the UAE been growing annually, but the country is also an important re-export hub for global tyre manufacturers. “So we believe it is time to strengthen our presence in the UAE as well as in other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries in association with a strong local partner. In Al Saeedi Middle East, which has more than two decades of excellent track-record in the UAE tyre business, we have found a strategic partner.”
India’s Ceat Tyres is investing approximately £70 million to £80 million in the establishment of the company’s third domestic Greenfield plant. The decision to build such a facility has been prompted by the global demand for commercial vehicle tyres, which the company intends to produce at the new site. Passenger car radials will also be produced at the facility. The Ceat group is presently looking for a suitable site in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat or the excise-free zones of Uttarakhand. The new capacity will boost the company’s current overall capacity by 100 tonnes per day to 400 tonnes per day.
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. has strengthened its market position in India and bolstered export capabilities following the completion of expansion work on its Indian subsidiary’s steel wheel production facility. The Kalyani Lemmerz Limited factory is located in the city of Pune, approximately 100 miles from Mumbai, and following recent expansion work it possesses an annual capacity of 800,000 units. Kalyani Lemmerz intends to add a further 200,000 units of capacity during 2007 through an additional US$10 million investment.
With Hankook’s 105,000 square metre production facility in Hungary complete and ready to commence production, the Korean tyremaker is already looking ahead to the day when its global production will reach 100 million tyres a year.
Bridgestone India is in discussions with Toyota regarding the possibility of supplying OE tyres to its upcoming Indian market small car. According to Hisao Ikawa, Bridgestone India’s managing director, the Madhya Pradesh based tyremaker is “most likely to bag the order for supplying radials to Toyota’s proposed small car, which should roll out in 2009-10.”
In a move that will no doubt further unsettle Indian manufacturers already concerned about tightening margins, one of the country’s major vehicle manufacturers has decided to fit its buses and multi-axle trucks with radial tyres sourced from China.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V., has confirmed that its Russian subsidiary, OJSC Amtel-Vredestein has been nominated to supply tyres for Renault Logan cars produced in Russia. According to the company, the signed Protocol provided Amtel-Vredestein an opportunity to participate in tenders to develop and supply tyres to various Renault projects worldwide. “This agreement is further validation of our prominent position in the Russian market and the outstanding quality of our tyres. We are honoured to be selected by Renault,” said Amtel-Vredestein CEO, Alexei Gurin.
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