Russia
Japan Bridgestone Corp is considering building a new tyre factory in Russia, where car production is up almost 10 per cent in the first half of 2006. Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported that Bridgestone has reserved a 10 hectare plot of land near the new Nissan factory in St. Petersburg, which could cost the Japanese company around $30 million.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. has announced that it has begun production of its Amtel brand of tyres at the Moscow Tyre Plant-M; only weeks after the company announced its intention to acquire the factory. The company has also met its promise to make the plant more environmentally friendly by shutting down rubber mixing at the facility.
Driving in the north calls for tyres designed for Nordic conditions. To meet these demands Nokian Tyres has developed brand-new summer tyres especially suitable for the rough, wet and grooved roads, and for the challenging and changeable conditions in Russia and the Nordic countries. The Nokian Hakka, a new summer tyre family featuring four different tyres and a wide range of sizes, joins the Hakkapeliitta winter tyre range, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The new products will be available in Nordic and Russian tyre outlets in the spring of 2007.
Vredestein Tyres has further expanded its varied range with a number of new sizes. Vredestein has an excellent reputation as winter tyre specialist. The most new sizes are in the Wintrac Xtreme UHP winter tyre and its SUV/4×4 cousin, the Wintrac 4 Xtreme. There are no less than 11 new sizes for the Xtreme Until now, the Wintrac 4 Xtreme was available in 16 different sizes, but Vredestein has now added an additional five sizes to the range.
The legislation regarding winter tyres is diverse across Europe, but the distinctive safety advantages of winter tyres are convincing drivers and national governments to consider making the use of winter tyres compulsory. In turn this provides retailers with a strong selling point for customers that plan to drive abroad to enjoy ski holidays for example. The reasons for increased legal recognition is not only the advantages of winter tyres on snow and ice. The tyres’ safety benefits on slushy, wet and dry but cold roads are getting more and more recognized.
(Akron/Tire Review) Amtel-Vredestein is taking a 350 million ruble credit line loan at 13 per cent from Rosbank, according to a report out of Russia. The credit facility was taken by subsidiary Amtel-Chernozemie OJSC, which pledged 20 per cent of its assets (about 1,78 billion rubles) as loan security.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. is to introduce its latest products for the first time in Russia at the Moscow International Motor Show 2006 (30 August to 10 September.) Tyres to be spotlighted include the Vredestein Sportrac 3, Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta, the new Amtel NordMaster ST-310 and the Amtel NordMaster CL winter tyres.
Car output in Russia rose 9.5 per cent year on year to 646,000 units in January-June, the industry and energy ministry reported. The ministry attributed the growth to an increase in car output by Avtoframos, a joint venture between the Moscow city government and Renault; Ford; the GM-AvtoVAZ JV; IzhAvto, TagAZ, and Severstal-Auto; and Russian car assembly plant Avtotor, a Prime-Tass report said. Truck output in Russia rose 18.4 per cent in the first half of the year, said the ministry, but did not provide any detailed data. The ministry attributed the growth to an increase in light commercial vehicle output by Russian automakers GAZ, UAZ and TagAZ.
Amtel-Vredestein has rebuffed reports that suggested it plans to buy back its shares. Responding to the news with an official statement, the Russian/Dutch tyre manufacturer countered what was “erroneously reported and editorialised by Russian Business Consulting’s daily online newspaper RBC Daily.”
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc has announced that its wholly-owned German subsidiary, Hayes Lemmerz Holding GmbH, has entered into a license agreement with Tolyatinskiy Zavod Stalnih Kolyos (TZSK) of Togliatti, Russia, a manufacturer of steel wheels. Under terms of the agreement, Hayes Lemmerz has granted a license to TZSK to use certain technology in the manufacture and sale of certain passenger car steel wheels to specific Russian vehicle manufacturers.
Between January and July 2006, Nizhnekamskshina OJSC increased tyre production by 13.5 per cent compared with the same period of last year to 6.974 million tyres. Russia’s Financial Information Service reports that this number includes 4.173 million tyres for passenger cars, a 9.7 per cent growth compared with the same period of 2005. The company also increased the production of tyres for trucks by 19.7 per cent to 2.585 million; and agricultural tyres by 21 per cent to 204,000. Production of ‘other’ tyres declined by 17.2 per cent to 12,000.
Describing itself as Europe’s fourth largest tyre producer, Amtel-Vredestein (AV) has announced first-half results showing sales of $350 million, up 22 per cent from £286 million in 2005. Gross profit improved 43 per cent from $56 to $80 million in the first half, up 22 per cent in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year. However, Amtel-Vredestein’s first half net losses totalled $15 million against the $1 million profit at the same time last year. Most of the losses were acquired during the first quarter, with net losses decreasing to $5 million in the second quarter, write AK&M analysts. In the same period net revenue from Passenger Car Tyres grew 52 per cent from $135 million to $205 million in the first half and now represents 59 per cent of total sales.
Matador Group companies reported sales of 227 million euros in the first half of 2006, including a 50 per cent share of Matador Omskshina. Sales are up 14 per cent compared with the same period last year. Pre-tax profits for the period totalled 15.4 million, up 26 per cent on the previous, despite increased raw material costs. “This result was positively influenced by the fact that practically all components within the group recorded an increase in sales and did not generate a loss for the Matador Group,” a company statement explained.
A Russian scientist who worked in cooperation with Hankook subsidiary ASA has been given a six-year suspended sentence for his part in an international espionage case. According to Russian news agencies, Oskar Kaibyshev, 66, the former director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems (IMPS), had been on trial in the Supreme Court of the Volga republic of Bashkortostan for passing dual-use technology to South Korea.
Analysts have interpreted Nokian’s positive results as an indication that the Finnish company’s move to Russia has paid off. Results published yesterday showed the company’s second quarter sales grew almost 60 per cent in the second quarter. “Net sales came in at 120.3 million euros, some 11 per cent better than expected; EBIT came in at 26.8 million euros some 45 per cent better than our estimate of 18.4 million,” Deutsche Bank analysts reported.
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