Ukrainian tyre manufacturer Belshina is attempting to strengthen its position in the Canadian market. The Belarusian Telegraph Agency reports that Beltyre, Belshina’s export business, has opened an official representative office in Vancouver and from this base will work towards boosting sales through the promotion of tyres best suited to the market.
Tire Group International (TGI) continues to implement its marketing strategy throughout Latin America and the Caribbean by opening a new sales office in Managua, Nicaragua. Heading this new office is Rigoberto (Rick) Reyes. Mr. Reyes comes to TGI with over 20 years’ experience in the tire & wheel industry having worked for firms such as Progressive Custom Wheel, California Wheel Corp and Martino Tire.
“As part of our continued marketing strategy, Nicaragua is the next country where we will build a stronger presence which will greatly enhance TGI’s reach through our expanding series of brands and segments. We are convinced that with Rick’s skill-set we’ll start seeing immediate benefits as he promotes our brands and the wide array of solutions and services TGI offers”, said Orlando Delgado, Tire Group International’s Senior Vice President of Business Development.
Since Belshina opened its first sales office outside of the CIS region, in Lithuania, a year and a half ago, the Belarusian commercial vehicle tyre specialist has looked towards establishing itself in even more regions. One particular area where Belshina has turned its attention is Southeast Asia, where the company is focusing upon the distribution of its earthmover tyre range. At Tyrexpo Asia the director of Belshina Asia, Maksim Smyslov, shared that the Belarusian manufacturer founded a new Singapore based operation in November 2007. It has been trading since last year and is focusing for the time being upon the earthmover tyre business, marketing these products to the region’s mines and mining operators.
Tyre recycling machinery maker Granutech-Saturn Systems has announced the appointment of Mike Hinsey as international vice president and the promotion of Scott White to the position of sales manager. Hinsey, a 25-year Granutech veteran, was previously the company’s international sales manager, a post he held for more than 15 years. In his new position he will develop and direct all non-US sales efforts, will oversee the activity of a number of sales agents with international territories, and will report to Granutech’s board of directors.
Tire Group International (TGI) has announced the hiring of Orlando Delgado as senior vice-president of business development. Delgado re-joins TGI with “over 20 years of international market experience with emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean.” Prior to joining TGI, he spent several years as director of logistics for a world leader in the design, manufacturing and marketing of toys and family products. According to a company statement, TGI hopes Delgado’s expertise in Latin American and Caribbean markets will allow the tyre wholesaler to reach its strategic objective of continuing to open sales offices throughout the region.
Bridgestone Americas opened the doors to its new 1 million square foot distribution center in Jacksonville, Florida.
Calling it “state-of-the-art tyre,” the company said the new facility has a capacity of more than one million tyres and will supply tyres and automotive parts to customers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. It will also supply the entire U.S. with tyres produced in Latin America, and the eastern half of the U.S. with tyres from Japan and other Asian countries.
Bridgestone Americas operates seven distribution centres across North America. (Tire Review/Akron)
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) has marked the official opening of its new tyre distribution centre in Jacksonville, Florida. The centre’s opening, says BATO, marks the latest step in its North America distribution centre modernisation programme.
With a capacity of more than a million tyres, ranging from small passenger and industrial tyres to those for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, the Jacksonville centre will supply tyres and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution centre will supply the entire United States with tyres produced in Latin America, and the eastern half of the United States with tyres from Japan and the wider Asia region.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations regional distribution centre at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville, Florida, was named the “Industrial Project of the Year” at the annual National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The distribution centre, BATO’s largest in the country, is a one-million-square-foot, $44 million facility on 63.3 acres at Cecil Commerce Center. The distribution centre has a significant impact at Cecil and has indirectly created more than 200 jobs at JAXPORT, according to BATO.
With capacity for more than a million tyres ranging from small passenger and industrial to commercial truck tyres, this centre supplies tyres and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution centre will ultimately supply the entire U.S. with imports from Latin America and the eastern half of the U.S. with tyres from Japan and other Asian countries.
“We are happy to be in Jacksonville — the people of this community have been great to work with,” said Steve Shelton, vice president of logistics and supply chain management, BATO. “The city of Jacksonville, the city council and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission helped us every step of the way. They’ve proven to us that Jacksonville is a great place to live and do business. We are very fortunate to have such great partners in this endeavor.” (Tire Review/Akron)
Following yesterday’s announcement that the company had sustained fourth quarter net losses of $1.37 per share and that net revenues had also fallen 19.9 per cent year-on-year to $4.1 billion, Goodyear’s full year results for 2008 revealed the extent to which the fourth quarter was down on 2007, showing a mere 1 per cent drop from the previous year’s record sales of $19.6 billion. The manufacturer also reported that it had seen increases in Goodyear-branded market share. However, the company’s statement on the figures took the opportunity to announce Goodyear’s plans to freeze salaries, cut an additional 5,000 jobs – though it is yet to be decided which markets will see these job losses – and sell non-core assets in an effort to cut costs and operating expenses by $700 million during 2009 fiscal year.
Reacting to the news, an analyst report from Deutsche Bank reported “positive signs” from the results, saying that the Q4 loss could be viewed as “a respectable result considering that global volume
(-19 vs. our -10.5 per cent estimate) and overhead under-absorption (-$213MM vs. our -$144MM estimate) deviated negatively against our assumptions.” Countering the 19 per cent drop in global volume, which Deutsche’s report called “a bit unsettling,” was the bank’s long-term prediction that shows Goodyear making a 54 cent profit per share in 2009 and $2 in 2010. It backed up these estimates by pointing towards the acceleration of “the bottom-line benefit of fixed-cost reduction” in 2009; the reduction of tyre companies’ capacity in general, leading to better “price discipline”; and that Deutsche analysts believe “tyre companies, including
Goodyear, are poised for a pretty big improvement in gross margins in the back half, as they benefit from plummeting raw material costs.”
Noting the “larger than expected” production cuts in Goodyear’s 2008 fourth quarter and a “sharp decline” in the manufacturer’s profitable South America and Asia regions, Deutsche Bank analysts have adjusted its estimates for the company’s 4Q 2008 and 1Q 2009 results. In a report released this week (commencing 9 February), Deutsche lowered its estimates to -$1.30 from -$0.86 for 4Q 2008 and to -$1.86 from -$1.50 for 1Q 2009.
Deutsche’s statement said that as well as the production cuts, Q4 had seen raw materials rise further than was previously expected. In addition it continues, “Some of the downside appears to be derived from a sharp decline in Latin America and Asia, two regions that have produced a disproportionate share of GT’s [Goodyear’s] profitability in the past.”
At the JP Morgan High Yield Conference on February 3, Goodyear Tire & Rubber discussed industry conditions during the final quarter of 2008 as well as the corresponding production cuts it undertook during the period.
“It is widely known that the economic slowdown is having a considerable impact on consumer demand and industry volume,” said Goodyear executive vice president and chief financial officer Darren R. Wells. “Fourth quarter industry volumes were well below expected levels, prompting a significant increase to our production cuts that now extend across all business units.” Wells said that Goodyear is responding ‘aggressively’ to the 2009 environment with additional cost savings and inventory reductions. “We continue to adjust production to reduce inventory levels and to keep pace with the lower demand environment.” The company plans to announce a series of new actions on its full-year conference call, scheduled to be held on February 18.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries is establishing a company to sell replacement market tyres in Central and South America, a move the company says it is making to strengthen its tyre sales in this growing region. The company, to be known as Sumitomo Rubber Latin America Limitada, will be located in Santiago, Chile and start business in October 2009.
Specialty chemicals company Lanxess AG has increased its net sales for the third quarter of 2008, however in keeping with the current economic climate these higher sales figures have not equalled greater net income. Quarterly sales of 1.81 billion euros for the period ending September 30 represented an increase of 6.4 per cent. Pre exceptionals EBITA, at 191 million euros, was also up on last year’s 175 million euros in the third quarter. BBIT, pre exceptionals, was 119 million euros, 6.3 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of 2007. The company’s quarterly net income of 56 million euros represented a decrease of 25.3 per cent.
Phase II of Yokohama Rubber’s “Grand Design 100” medium-range financial plan has been announced. The next stage of the plan, which began in the 2007 fiscal year, is scheduled to commence in April 2009, following the end of Phase I in March. The company says it will determine the details of Phase II, valid for the 2010 to 2012 financial years, and release its contents, including financial targets, in March 2009.
In the first nine months of 2008 Bekaert achieved consolidated sales of 2.047 billion euros and combined sales of 3.119 billion euros, an increase of 28.8 per cent and 24.0 per cent respectively. Bekaert reports that organic growth accounted for a growth in consolidated sales of 24.7 per cent, largely driven by the passed on raw material price rises, and the net movement in acquisitions and divestments in Vicson (Venezuela) and in Proalco (Colombia) accounted for 7.9 per cent. Exchange rate fluctuations tempered the growth by 3.8 per cent.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
