News articles on the tyre retail business
Continental has ended its co-operation with Autobytel Europe. The tyre manufacturer had intended to invest 15 million Euro in retail sales via the Internet. The company has revised plans and is eschewing B2C activities to concentrate on B2B developments. Swedish customers in the test market can already access the tyre module from car broker Autobytel.
Cooper-Avon Tyres has reshuffled many of its management team. André Korynevsky – responsible until now for retreading materials – has been appointed European Sales Director, liaising with the company’s offices in Germany, France and Switzerland. He will continue to manage the retread materials business. Phil Caris is the new European Sales & Marketing Director with responsibility for multi-brand strategies, coordinating global product management. As European Major Accounts Director, Steve Cundy will head a team of three, which will service the business with European retail chains, marketing Avon house and private brands, as well as developing fleet business.
Someone who acquires a seat at the top, and even reaches the CEO position at Continental, will neither be fired nor will he just quit. There is what is called “a separation on friendly terms”. The question whether Kessel and von Grünberg could ever have been friends is not even relevant. Whoever thinks that von Grünberg just shrugged and happily retired to some comptroller’s position will find out that he was wrong. Von Grünberg is the type of man who may occasionally loosen the handcuffs, writes a German daily newspaper, but he also tightens them again. His thumb pointed downwards, and that gesture determined Kessel’s future, and the whole board went along, including the banker Weiss.
Nokian Tyres has released financial results for last year. Net sales were 398.5 m Euro, 23.5 per cent higher than 1999. Allowing for acquisitions made during the year, the figure was 359.8 m Euro, or 11.5 per cent higher. Operating profit was 39.4 m Euro (1999: 42.1 m), affected by a 1.7 m Euro loss incurred by the tyre retail chain. Net profit was 19.8 m Euro (1999: 25.7 m).
SmarTire Systems, the tyre pressure monitoring equipment supplier, has launched the US distribution of its new aftermarket products through the Tire Rack and Big O Tires. SmarTire CEO, Robert Rudman says, “These orders follow our initial distribution in Europe and represent the beginning of our marketing strategy for SmarTire’s aftermarket products in North America.”
Continental Tyre Group is to set up a new UK truck network, comprising independent businesses with exclusive territories, managed by Continental. This will obviously affect the commercial division of Conti’s subsidiary National Tyre Services. Some will be sold, while some will be taken over by existing staff – a number of these are expected to join the new truck network, which will be called ContiNetwork.
Manfred Wennemer, management board chairman of Continental AG, is reported to have said that the company expects to sell its UK equity chain National Tyre Service by the end of this year. Earlier this year, Continental UK closed National’s truck tyre operations when it formed ContiNetwork; a partnership with independent truck tyre service providers. This left 210 retail outlets in the National chain. A spokesman in Hanover confirmed Mr. Wennemer’s comment, but would not reveal any further details. The news was only revealed because Continental had to enter a figure into the fourth quarter accounts which was picked up by analysts.
TYRES & ACCESSORIES, on hearing stories of a Continental sale of National Tyres and Autocare decided to put the question to National. In response to enquiries about the possible sale by Continental, Roger Hawkins, Managing Director of National’s Retail division told TYRES & ACCESSORIES, “Continental has no immediate plans to sell National Tyres, rather it has invested a considerable amount into the fast-fit chain in the past 18 months on branch refurbishment and acquisition of “High Street” locations and will soon be unveiling an ambitious new fleet programme.” National Tyres and Autocare is a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental AG and reports to Continental AG in Germany. If the Equity were to be sold off it would send shock-waves through the UK retail and wholesale trade.
Nokian Tyres has purchased the 13-outlet tyre chain of Dackaffaren for the sum of 4.3 million Euro. Dackaffaren had a turnover of 110 million Swedish Crowns (11.5 million Euro) last year and employs 70 staff. The company will be incorporated into Nokian’s Vianor tyre retail chain, which now consists of 50 outlets in Sweden and a total of 170 outlets in five countries. Kim Gran, Nokian’s President and CEO, says that the acquisition completes the company’s coverage in Sweden.
James M. Zimmerman (57) has been elected to the board of directors of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. He joins the company from Federated Department Stores Inc., where he was chairman and CEO, and has extensive experience in retail. It was also announced that Katherine G. Farley, senior managing director of Tishman Speyer Properties Inc., has resigned from the Goodyear board after three years’ service.
Nokian has released interim financial figures for the first nine months of this year. These show an increase in net sales of 7.4 per cent to 277.7 m Euro and an operating profit of 25.3 m Euro (11.9 m Euro for the same period last year). Net profit reached 9.1 m Euro (2.7 m in 2000). Nokian’s target for the year is to achieve a sales growth of around 10 per cent and improve on last year’s profitability.
It has been officially announced that the retreading activities of Vergölst, a subsidiary of the German tyre manufacturer Continental, will cease completely by the end of the year. This will not affect the nationwide retail chain. 262 employees will be made redundant at Bad Nauheim as a result. Final figures show 600,000 passenger car tyres and 124,000 truck tyres being retreaded annually.
Just Tyres Holdings, the group consisting of the Just Tyres retail chain, the Southam Tyres wholesale business, Autostop and Autostop fleet network, has called in the Administrative Receiver. 40 of the 90 Just Tyres depots were closed down immediately, resulting in 100 job losses, or one third of the total group workforce. Autostop Fleet has also closed down. The Receiver is looking for buyers, either for the group as a whole or its component divisions separately and reports “considerable interest”.
Nokian Tyres has reported its Q2 results, which proved better than analysts expected. While sales were as forecast (up 11.7 per cent to 95 million Euro), operating income was much higher than predicted at 8.5 million Euro, with an operating margin of 8.9 per cent (last year, 3.5 per cent). Results were helped by the 1.9 million Euro operating profit recorded by the Vianor retail chain. Analysts are cautious about the outlook for the second half of the year, with much depending on winter tyre sales.
In the UK, wholesaler Stapleton’s Tyre Services has announced that it is to invest two million Pounds in an internet-linked network of service outlets, called Tyreserve, aimed at the car fleet market. Stapleton’s retail division (50 outlets) will be the first member and Tyreserve will begin trading next April. The new move has the full backing of Itochu, Stapleton’s parent company.
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