Cooper Tire & Rubber has appointed Jon Huffman to the role of director, Pricing and Program Management. In his new position, Huffman will oversee all aspects of pricing, and will also assume responsibility for Cooper's three retail stores in Findlay, Ohio, Texarkana, Arkansas, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
Blame those rising raw material costs –Continental Tire The Americas has announced price increases of up to six per cent on all Continental, General Tire and proprietary brand passenger car, light truck and commercial vehicle tyres in the United States. Exact increases will vary by product size, and the new pricing takes effect June 1st, 2010.
Just a few short weeks after reporting on the significant ongoing price rises in the cost of international container shipping and predicting that there was yet more to come, industry sources are now saying that the situation has been turned upside down, with many companies now cutting prices in competition with each other.
“Things have been turned on their heads in recent days and this is having a significant knock on effect on rates. Some of the shipping lines didn’t raise rates recently when many of the others did and now many carriers are price cutting to remain competitive and are aggressively targeting new customers,” Rob Shelley of Suffolk-based freight forwarder Maritime Cargo Services told Tyres & Accessories.
Following a reported nine-month trial at one of its depots, Midlands supply chain specialist TM Logistics has signed up to the new Goodyear Dunlop Fleet Online Solutions (FoS) package for three years at 16 locations. The service provision will be managed by Truckforce, Goodyear Dunlop’s dedicated truck service. TM Logistics’ annual spend on tyres exceeds £300,000 across 150 vehicles and 250 trailers. The company states that the service was previously contracted through ATS and Michelin.
Will the leading global tyre manufacturers be able to increase product prices during the course of 2010? Yes, but not by much. That’s the view of Morgan Stanley’s financial analysts who published their assessment in an investor report published yesterday (16 March). Affirming the position, widely held amongst financial analysts, that the tyre industry is historically able to maintain “price discipline,” they commented that: “All major companies have already released price increase announcements – the industry is disciplined.”
Morgan Stanley analysts have decreased the bank’s 2010/2011 Pirelli earnings per share estimates by 20 – 25 euro cents, following the company’s fourth quarter results. This means the analysts have reduced their estimates from 3.39 euros to 3.18 euros and 4.53 euros to 4.28 euros for 2010 and 2011 respectively. They also commented that bank’s tyre EBIT estimates are now in line with the market consensus.
However, while the latest investors note (published on 16 March) was direct in assessment that earnings would be reduced, the analysts also outlined potential events that would make them change their mind. At the top of their wish list are changes in group organization, which Pirelli’s management has publicly announced that is seeking: “We applaud the efforts Pirelli is taking to focus on the core tyre business and believe the market will continue to reward the company for this, as it has done in the months.”
MAM Software Ltd has reported a marked increase in the use of its Autonet Online business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, with over 1500 end-user connections now active nationwide. Autonet Online is an off-the-shelf parts ordering portal that enables distributors and wholesalers to sell products online to their trade customers. It includes an electronic catalogue with VRM for easy parts identification, real-time pricing and availability, and a comprehensive account enquiry facility.
Escalating raw material costs, particularly those for that most necessary of commodities, natural rubber, has prompted Bridgestone Europe to increase prices on all tyre products. The new pricing takes effect April 1 and while the increases will vary according to product category and market, tyres will on the most part become between three and five per cent more expensive.
In the wake of financial results that Michelin characterised as being “more agile than ever,” financial analysts have raised their price targets for the tyre manufacturer by 7 euros from 29 to 36 euros. The Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in their investors note that they had upped estimates from the 2010 to 2011 earnings per share from 3.15 to 4.30 and 3.90 to 4.76 respectively. At the same time they issues a new 2012 earnings per share prediction of 5.98 euros.
Tyre supplier Strathclyde Tyres has won the West Dunbartonshire and South Lanarkshire local authority Exel contracts. Strathclyde reports that the use of Cam Systems’ Cameo software platform has assisted Strathclyde’s account management and reporting, allowing it to develop its communication with customers. Cameo provides a foundation line-of-business application suite for tyre wholesalers and retailers. Debbie Tracey, manager at Strathclyde Tyres says: “Our partnership with Cam Systems has enabled us to improve the way in which we manage accounts and streamline our reporting process. This has allowed us to improve the way we communicate with our clients and, in turn, make us more marketable. We selected Cam as we had been looking for a software package which is specifically built to meet our needs and have been impressed with the increased visibility it has given our company.” Cameo reportedly helped to increase visibility across its two divisions – private and commercial – provided by Cam Systems, the leading software solutions provider to the independent tyre industry.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operation’s Agricultural Tire, U.S. & Canada Commercial Tire Sales division will increases prices on all Firestone branded agricultural, construction and forestry tires, as well as all Bridgestone branded garden tyres sold in the US and Canada replacement markets, reports Tire Review. The increase, effective 1 April, will be 5 per cent, with possible adjustments added in-line. “In order to remain a viable supplier in the agricultural, forestry and industrial markets, we will continue to review our pricing structure and make quarterly adjustments as needed,” said Tom Rodgers, director of marketing for the division.
Hankook Tire’s management are confident they can raise confidence in its ability to their products’ global average selling price by between seven and eight per cent in 2010. According to an investors note published by Deutsche Bank, additional price hikes are possible, with Hankook’s management said to be targeting an 11 per cent increase.
According to the financial analysts, Hankook’s confidence of being able to successfully implement the prices increases is based on the fact that “demand in key markets remain supportive expecting.” In real terms this means managers expect year-on-year sales volume growth of around 14 per cent this year with 100 per cent utilization.
Gloucester tyre centre, Chris Mullins Tyres has reported a successful first year in business, exceeding its sales targets by more than 50 per cent according to the company. The centre, located on the city’s Bristol Road, began trading last January.
Specialising in selling and fitting car, van and motorcycle tyres to the general public and local businesses, a statement from the centre says it achieved 155 per cent of its first year’s trading target by selling more than 13,000 tyres and associated services such as wheel alignment. The statement added that it achieved a number of record trading days during the recent cold snap, as motorists replaced or upgraded their tyres to specialist snow products.
Continued increases in the cost of raw materials and energy-related expenses are the stated reasons behind the first increases in Yokohama Tire Corporation’s light and medium truck tyre prices since September 1, 2008. The US market price rises will take effect March 1, with prices increasing by up to seven per cent. Yokohama also states that in-line adjustments will occur. Details of these will be announced at a later date.
Dunlop Tyres’ control tyre supply to the Australian Superbike Championship has been extended for a further three seasons. The tyre maker has already served in this capacity for the past two years. “We at Dunlop are excited with this announcement and are proud to be appointed this tender,” said Dunlop’s motorcycle and motorsports National Manager Ken Wieden. "This was an important contract for us and our distributors to win.
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