Nokian Tyres
Two Nokian winter tyres have achieved top results in German magazine winter tests. The Finnish manufacturer’s WR SUV 3 won both the test and a top “highly recommended” rating in the winter tyre test of German magazine Off Road, while the WR D3 passenger car tyre won a test conducted by Deutscher Sprachraum automobile clubs.
Few tyre makers depend as heavily on the Russian market as Nokian Tyres, and the Ukraine crisis therefore lefts its mark on the company in the first half of this current financial year. Kim Gran, president and chief operating officer of Nokian Tyres, said the Russia and CIS markets “proved to be more challenging than estimated” in the January to June 2014 period due to the crisis’ escalation, and a “clear drop in sales value” occurred as a consequence. Both unit volumes and sales in the region declined; Nokian’s sales in Russia dropped 31.4 per cent year-on-year between 1 January and 30 June to €230.9 million while sales in the CIS countries plummeted 66.0 per cent to €6.9 million. Combined, the region experienced a 33.3 per cent decrease in sales, to €237.8 million. Most of this decrease in sales value resulted from the weakening of the Russian rouble.
Making its debut at the British tyre industry show Brityrex on 7-9 October 2014, Nordic Tyres has announced that it will showcase Nokian Tyres’ PCR and 4×4 ranges. The Lockerbie based company is the sole UK distributor of the Finnish manufacturer’s products, including its forestry, agricultural and industrial tyre ranges. The exhibition will take place at EventCity, Manchester.
Finland’s Nokian Tyres Group has reported a year-on-year decline in sales, operating profit and earnings during the first quarter of 2014. Despite a growth in sales volumes, currency devaluation – particularly in the Russian rouble – led to net sales between 1 January and 31 March declining 6.3 per cent to €311.9 million. Operating profit for the period was €68.4 million, 10.4 per cent below the same period a year earlier, and profit for the period amounted to €38.7 million, a year-on-year drop of 39.1 per cent. Earnings per share came to €0.29 as opposed to €0.48 a year earlier.
Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian Tyres Plc has reorganised its board of directors. Details of the reshuffle were announced on 8 April following Nokian’s Annual General meeting. As a result of the move Petteri Walldén was elected chairman of the board. The board also elected Hille Korhonen, Hannu Penttilä and Petteri Walldén as members of the nomination and remuneration committee.
At Nokian Tyres’ Annual General Meeting on 8 April 2014, the company’s financial statements for 2013 were accepted and the Board of Directors and the President and CEO discharged from liability. The meeting decided that a dividend of €1.45 per share shall be paid for the period ending 31 December 2013. The dividend shall be paid to shareholders included in the shareholder list maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on the record date of 11 April 2014. The dividend payment date is 25 April 2014.
Due to a weaker economic forecast for Russia and the CIS, Nokian Tyres has downgraded its guidance for 2014 and now says net sales and operating profit will decline this year compared with 2013. This latest forecast replaces that published on 7 February, in which Nokian Tyres said it was positioned to show growth in net sales and operating profit this year.
In its Annual Report for 2013, which was released today, Nokian Tyres estimates that approximately 111 million winter passenger car and van tyres were sold last year in its main regions of activity. This includes 69 million winter tyres sold in Europe (excluding the Nordic countries) out of a total of 230 million passenger car and van tyres sold in the region.
Maintaining its position as a winter tyre innovation leader in its 80th year, Nokian has built a concept tyre that allows drivers to use studs at the touch of a button. The Finnish manufacturer says the “world’s first non-studded winter tyre with studs” would allow drivers to make the switch when conditions clearly change – […]
Recent tax reassessments have given the Nokian Tyres Group a negative bottom line in the fourth quarter of 2013. The Finnish tyre maker’s pre-tax profit of €57.7 million (already down 44.6 per cent year-on-year) was dragged down to €-36.4 million by the additional €100.3 million in taxes and interest that Finland’s Tax Administration requires Nokian to pay for the 2007 to 2010 financial years.
Nokian Tyres reports the use of ‘military-grade materials’ in its latest winter SUV tyre; by this it means aramid, which is present in the sidewall and provides the Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV additional protection against impact damage. The new tyre also utilises what the tyre maker says is the “most modern stud technology in the business”; Nokian says the end result is a tyre that offers “maximum peace of mind to drivers who can now completely enjoy the performance of their sports utility vehicles.” The Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV is designed for larger 4×4 and SUV vehicles.
Eight decades after Nokian Tyres introduced its first winter tyre, the Finnish company has announced the addition of five new products to its winter range. Three new tyres have entered the Hakkapeliitta line-up; all three, the studded Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta C3 and Hakkapeliitta CR3 van tyres, are designed for use in […]
A famous saying posits that nothing is certain except for death and taxes, but Nokian Tyres may argue that taxes and then further taxes are more certain. Following on from the reassessment and €26.9 million bill received in December for the 2007 financial year, Nokian Tyres announced on 21 January that Finland’s Tax Administration has also reassessed Nokian’s tax for the years 2008 to 2010. According to this reassessment, the tyre maker must pay an extra €73.3 million tax and interest (€51.0 million of which is tax) for these three years. Payment must be made in February 2014.
On 30 December, Nokian Tyres received the unwelcome news that a reassessment made by Finland’s Tax Administration has determined the company must pay €26.9 million in additional taxes, plus punitive tax increases and interest, for the year 2007. The full amount will be recorded in Nokian’s 2013 financial statement and results. The company says it will appeal the ruling, however should it be upheld Nokian’s corporate tax rate will rise over the next five years to the maximum rate of 22 per cent, rather than to the previously announced 17 per cent.
With memories of Nokian’sill-fated alternative winter tyre label fresh in mind, I was interested to learn that Finnish tyre and vehicle test centre Testworld is making its own ice braking test result publically and freely available.
Let’s cast our minds back almost exactly a year. The new tyre labelling laws had just been introduced following six months of various manufacturers making certain data available.12 months on virtually all of that has died down and it is far from clear exactly how the market has received this concept, let alone consumers (see “Labelling compliance worse…”, “NTDA/Lanxess labelling report” and “Goodyear Dunlop: Labelling one year on” for more on this.
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