Titan International, Inc. has appointed Laura K. Thompson to its Board of Directors, effective 1 April. Ms Thompson has also been appointed to serve on the Board’s Audit, Nomination, and Compensation Committees.
A familiar face has returned to Goodyear Tire & Rubber. As of 20 September, Darren R. Wells is back with the tyre maker as executive vice-president and chief financial officer – a position he held between 2008 and 2013. He succeeds Laura Thompson, who in June announced her intention to retire in the first quarter of 2019 following a 35-year career with the company.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has refinanced its US$2 billion asset-based revolving credit facility. The company has extended the maturity by five years to 2021 and reduced the interest rate for loans under the facility by 25 basis points to LIBOR plus 125 basis points.
A one-time pre-tax charge of US$646 million linked to the deconsolidation of its Venezuelan subsidiary’s financial statements dragged Goodyear Tire & Rubber into the red in the fourth quarter of 2015. The tyre maker recorded a GAAP basis net loss of $380 million during the three months to 31 December 2015, a far cry from the $2.1 billion net income achieved a year earlier. Goodyear calculates that excluding certain significant items, most notably the abovementioned deconsolidation, adjusted net income came to $257 million, or $0.93 per share.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber reports that Peter R. Rapin will succeed Thomas Kaczynski as the company’s treasurer. Rapin joins the tyre maker from TRW Automotive (now part of ZF Friedrichshafen AG), where he most recently directed the company’s global treasury, tax, insurance, and pension functions as vice-president treasury and tax. In his new role he will report to Laura K. Thompson, Goodyear’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer.
Goodyear has confirmed what many must have already realised – tyre makers build factories in economically favourable sites. The US doesn’t top any list of low-cost locations, and therefore the bid its home town launched to host a new factory planned for the Americas was always going to be a long shot. Akron City Council nevertheless declared itself “willing to do what it takes” to host the new plant – but its hopes have now been dashed by Goodyear’s chief financial officer, who has sent word that Akron – where Goodyear last produced car tyres in 1977 – is considered too costly.
Christina Zamarro has succeeded Tom Kaczynski in the role of vice-president, Investor Relations at Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Kaczynski held this position since mid-2013 and on 1 January 2014 took on the dual function of vice-president, Treasurer & Investor Relations; he continues to lead Goodyear’s treasury team. Zamarro’s appointment is effective immediately, and she will report to Goodyear executive vice-president and chief financial officer Laura Thompson.
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.