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New Replacement Truck Tyre Head in Michelin’s German Markets

As of July 1, 2009 Michelin’s commercial vehicle tyre replacement market business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will have a new man at the helm. Rainer Harter will replace Thomas Nagel in the position, and will report to Dieter von Aspern, Michelin’s replacement tyre business marketing director in the three countries. Nagel will lead the company’s electric mobility project under the responsibility of Dieter Freitag, director of Michelin Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

6th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Birla Tyres Increases Permanent Staff Numbers, Resumes Production

Indian news sources report production at Birla Tyres’ stoppage-riddled facility in Orissa State has returned to normal, an event accompanied by a rise in the number of permanent employees at the plant. Management is said to have decided upon the resumption of “full production” and the induction of 280 of the factory’s casual workers as permanent employees, boosting permanent payroll numbers to 2,110. The plant’s 450 contractual workers have been upgraded to casual status.

6th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Amtel-Vredestein N.V. Declared Bankrupt

Following the news that Apollo Tyres is going to buy Vredestein Banden, the district court of Almelo in the Netherlands has declared the manufacturer’s former Russian-Dutch parent company (Amtel-Vredestein N.V.) bankrupt. As a result Amtel-Vredestein has released full-year 2008 financial results that chronicle the company’s continued decline from its poor full-year 2007 results. Full-year 2008 net losses almost doubled to US$446 million, compared with $242 million. The losses came despite relatively stable annual revenue of $881 million compared with $886 million in 2007.

The financial report also sheds a little more light on the timing of Apollo’s offer for Vredestein Banden. According to the company literature, the group received a “binding offer” to acquire 100 per cent of the issued share capital from Apollo in February 2009, two months before the news that such an offer became public. By this stage the offer had long been accepted by the company’s supervisory board, a decision that was made at some point in March.

1st May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Minor Fire at Cooper’s Texarkana Plant

A fire at Cooper Tire’s Texarkana, Arkansas, tyre plant last week resulted in the evacuation of all employees, but caused limited damage and no one was injured. According to a Tire Review report, the fire broke out after some tyre dust caught fire. Investigators said upgrades are being done at the plant and that a welder’s torch sparked a fire in rubber dust. It took firefighters less than half an hour to put the fire out. Soon after, the tyre plant’s workers were soon allowed to go back inside. The fire follows a similar minor incident at Cooper Tire’s Tupelo platn on Saturday 14 March. In this instance an apparent mishap with some welding work started the fire. According to a WTVA.com report at the time, no injuries were reported, but “several holes had to be cut in the roof by firemen to get the fire out.”

15th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Buyer for Vredestein Banden Found

A buyer for Vredestein Banden has been found. In a written statement released by the Dutch company on April 2, the holding company Amtel-Vredestein N.V. has received a “binding offer: from a “strategic” industrial market player for the total share capital of Vredestein Banden BV. According to company CEO Rob Oudshoorn, the agreement is “very binding”, and it is “highly unlikely” that any complications will prevent the deal from going ahead. The CEO declined to disclose the deal’s value.

Tyres & Accessories will report further on this transaction when information is available.

2nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Proposes Temporary Wolverhampton Layoffs

Local news source The Express and Star has reported that Goodyear has proposed a series of temporary lay-offs to around 300 staff in Wolverhampton. The paper quotes Cyril Barrett, the branch chairman of union Unite, saying that it is likely that staff will take a total of 68 “lay-off days” spread through 2009. According to the report, 29 of these days will be paid – 14 at 60 per cent, 15 at £21.50 per day – while the remaining lay-off days would be covered by holidays and 25 days without pay.

Goodyear told the newspaper that the company is waiting for union feedback on the proposal.

16th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

New Pirelli Financial and Strategic Review Released

A new financial and strategic report on Pirelli has been made available by analysts Companies and Markets. The firm promises to present “an in-depth business, strategic and financial analysis of Pirelli, providing “a comprehensive insight into the company, including business structure and operations, executive biographies and key competitors. The hallmark of the report is the detailed strategic analysis and views on the company.”

In addition to the provision of a “one-stop-shop” to understanding Pirelli, the review offers a financial, strategic and operational SWOT analysis; business structure, history and product information; and “financial ratios for the past five years as well as interim ratios for the last four quarters,” including profitability, margins and returns, liquidity and leverage, financial position and efficiency.

16th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler ‘Buys’ Time from Banks With ‘Bridging Loan’

Schaeffler Group has reportedly obtained a form of bridge financing that gives the automotive supplier more time to negotiate long-term funding, the German Die Welt newspaper has reported. Schaeffler owner, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, apparently agreed to contribute part of her fortune in the deal with a group of lenders including Commerzbank AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, according to the report, which added: “The arrangement means Schaeffler is no longer in danger of breaching covenants in the coming months.” However, Bloomberg reports suggest the financing was drawn from a revolving credit facility and that companies “don’t usually draw on the facilities.”

12th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Plimsoll Report Tackles Rising Insolvencies Prediction

A new report from business intelligence analysts Plimsoll investigates the prediction by restructuring specialists that the number of UK insolvencies will soar by 55 per cent towards the end of 2009, a figure that has more than doubled since the credit crunch. Addressed specifically to the needs of the 156 UK tyres, exhausts and batteries companies rated as being at high risk of failure, the report suggests that if they are to survive, they must start to fix their problems now. Copies of the report are to be sold for £350.

12th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Holbeach Tyres Celebrates Four Decades of Business

Holbeach Tyres has celebrated 40 years of trading in the town of Spalding. According to a recent local newspaper report, the business was established as a small independent garage at Battlefields Lane in 1969 by John Tinn but moved to Boston Road in 1993. In order to celebrate John and his son David, who took over 10 years ago, held a party at “Cafe Dunlop” to thank their loyal customers.

10th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Layoffs and Further Shutdowns Await Pirelli Carlisle Workers

A report in the Cumberland News indicates that 20 more jobs are to go from Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle. According to the paper, employees have been informed of the redundancies. Pirelli is said to hope that the positions can be eliminated through voluntary redundancies.

Additionally, two further temporary plant shutdowns are scheduled, and the factory will close for five days during March and a further five in April.

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Polk: U.S. Vehicle Median Age Increased in 2008

The median age of passenger cars in operation increased to 9.4 years in 2008, breaking the previous two-year record high of 9.2 years, according to a new report by R. L. Polk & Co. In its annual report, Polk said that the median age for all trucks in 2008 increased to 7.6 years from 7.3 years in 2007. Light truck age increased from 7.1 years in 2007 to 7.5 years in 2008.

“As the fleet of pick-up trucks, SUVs and minivans purchased in the late 1980s and through the 1990s ages, their scrappage rates accelerate,” said Polk’s Dave Goebel. The percentage of total passenger cars and trucks scrapped in 2008 increased to 5.6 per cent compared to 5.2 per cent in 2007. The passenger car scrappage rate was 5.1 per cent. For all trucks, the scrappage rate was 6.3 per cent and light truck scrappage was 6.4 per cent, both up notably from 2007.

“The current economic environment, coupled with high gas prices last spring and summer, have resulted in consumers delaying purchases of vehicles because their discretionary income has fallen,” said Goebel. “Based on the uncertainty of what the future holds, consumers are trying to keep their current vehicles running longer, until their confidence improves.” (Tire Review/Akron)

3rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kremenchug Wheel Plant Idles Production

Ukrainian cold-formed steel wheel maker JSC Kremenchug Wheel Plant has opted to suspended production between 12 February and 16 March. According to a report published at Russian news site, ityre.com, the company cited sharp declines in demand as the reason. Kremenchug Wheel Plant reportedly also intends to lay off 334 people. The latest move follows an earlier decision to reduce its working week from five to three days.

20th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Dneprogas Turns Off Dneproshina’s Gas

Ukranian gas-supply company Dneprogas has cut off the country’s second largest tyre maker’s gas supply. According to a report published at ityre.com, Dneproshina was disconnected from the mains on 17 February, due to the “absence of limits on gas supply.” A number of other small and medium-sized enterprises are also said to have been cut off for the same reason.

20th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper’s Melksham Plant Halts Production for a Week

Cooper Tire Europe has suspended production at its Melksham, UK production plant. According to a company spokesman production and closed for a week in order to reduce stocks. However, a BBC news report added that the move would also “help safeguard its future.” There is apparently no threat to jobs at the plant which employs 1100 people. Production is expected to return to normal next week.

19th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors