Is Nokian Tyres a takeover target?
How the Russia-Ukraine war, the company’s low share price and other challenges make Nokian Tyres prime takeover material for a premium brand with the money and desire
How the Russia-Ukraine war, the company’s low share price and other challenges make Nokian Tyres prime takeover material for a premium brand with the money and desire
On 17 January, Sentury said it will adjust its financing plan through the stock market and specifically non-public offering of shares. After the adjustment, the tyre manufacturer will obtain no more than 2.8 billion yuan (about £330 million; 380 million euros), which is far lower than the 4 billion yuan (about £480 million; 540 million euros) proposed in the previous plan.
On 2 January 2023, Warren Rudman left his role as general manager Sentury Tire Spain. Rudman’s departure follows Sentury’s 30 December announcement that the company is planning to invest in a new tyre factory in Morocco. Signing off his departure announcement, Rudman noted “I will start a new journey soon”.
On 30 December 2022, Sentury Tire shared that the company convened a board meeting to approve the “Proposal on Investing in the Construction of High-Performance Car and Light Truck Radial Tire Projects in Morocco”. In other words, the company is planning to build its third overseas factory just outside Morocco, North Africa in what will be the first Chinese tyre factory in Africa. Sentury plans to invest just under US$296.78 million in constructing the Morocco tyre plant, which is set to have a production capacity is 6 million car and light-truck tyres a year.
On December 10, Sentury announced that the Public Security Bureau of Danzhou City, Hainan Province is investigating Xu Huashan, director and chief financial officer. The tyre manufacturer said the investigation relates to Xu Huashan’s work prior to her appointment at Sentury, and that it will not significantly or adversely impact Sentury’s daily business decisions and operations. It is reported that Sentury has arranged for director and general manager Lin Wenlong to perform the duties of the CFO.
Based on stock market reporting for the third quarter of 2022, the top nine Chinese listed tyre companies ranked by revenue are Sailun, Linglong, Triangle, Huayi (the holding company of Double Coin), Guizhou Tyre, Sentury, Aeolus, Jiangsu General, and Doublestar. (The leading Chinese tyre company according to Tyrepress global rankings is ZC Rubber (Hangzhou Zhongce), but it is not listed.) The figures show that Sailun has completed a meteoric rise this year to become the Chinese tyre industry’s stock market leader, with an income of more than 6 billion yuan in the quarter, putting it within reach of the global top 10 tyre manufacturers.
At the end of October, several listed companies, including Linglong, Triangle, Sailun, Aeolus, Jiangsu General, Guizhou Tyre (Advance), Doulestar and Sentury, released their operating results for the third quarter. In the third quarter, Linglong produced 17,015,900 tyres and sold 16,623,600 tyres, with a revenue of about 4.37 billion yuan (about 520 million pounds, 600 million euros) and a net profit of about 110 million yuan (about 13.1 million pounds, 15.22 million euros).
At the end of 2021, Sentury Tire announced that it is planning to build a half-a-billion-euro tyre factory in the Galicia region of Spain. 10 months down the line, is the Sentury Spain factory still going ahead as planned? The short answer is yes and the project is designed to be powered by wind energy. Tyres & Accessories spoke to Warren Rudman, general manager Sentury Tire (Spain) S.L. in order to find out more.
During The Tire Cologne show, which took place in May, we spotted the Landsail Qirin EV concept tyre on the stand of wholesaler Inter-Sprint. It is a concept no longer, as Qingdao Sentury Tire officially debuted the tyre yesterday.
Sentury is in the process of declaring its Spanish factory plans as a strategic industrial project with the government of Garcia, Spain. The tyre maker hopes that its plant in the As Pontes region of Garcia will be able to use this method to obtain fast-track approvals to speed up the entire project’s construction.
Chinese listed tyre companies have successively released their 2021 annual reports in recent weeks. Here, Tyrepress analyses these annual reports’ comparing developments in revenue, operating conditions and overseas factory strategy. And the short story is Linglong remains the largest tyremaker amongst the top 10 listed Chinese tyre companies and that Sailun is the fastest growing.
Sentury Tire, the tyre manufacturer behind the global Landsail tyre brand, has outlined its plan to construct a 522.59 million euro car and light truck tyre plant in the Galicia region of northwest Spain. Qingdao Sentury Tire Co, Ltd’s board of directors approved the proposal to build capacity for 12 million high performance and light commercial tyres on a three-year schedule at a meeting in the last quarter of 2021, announcing this intention to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on 19 December. The company has implemented a 100 per cent owned subsidiary, Sentury Tire (Spain) Co, Ltd, via its Hong Kong trading company for the project, and wants to ramp up production in two phases; it expects the plant to reach 50 per cent capacity (six million tyres) after two years, with the second half added after three years. Sentury wants to achieve these milestones in 2024 and 2025 respectively, pending construction conditions in Spain and the availability of funding, which Sentury plans to self-raise.
Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd. has appointed Martin Winter as global technical director OE. Winter has more than 20 years’ experience of working in original equipment tyre development with Continental, Goodyear, and most recently Hankook. Sentury Tire states that Winter will work to establish relationships with leading original equipment manufacturers. Sentury is seeking to “establish and increase a competitive partnership and relationship” with European and global light vehicle makers. Manufacturing from its base in Qingdao, China and in Thailand, Sentury is primarily known for its Landsail brand in the UK and Europe.
Having received approval back in June, Qingdao Sentury Tire has successfully completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and is now listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (China) as of 11 September 2020. 11 per cent of the company’s shares were valued at 1.31 billion yuan (162 million euros; £149.859 million) by investors, resulting in a theoretical total valuation of 1.47 billion euros. The offered shares offered were oversubscribed 2887 times over. But what is the company planning to do with its newly-raised funds?
Chinese manufacturer Qingdao Sentury Tire received approval for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange earlier in the month. The tyre maker is mainly known in the UK for supplying Landsail tyres through wholesaler Grouptyre, as well as being a manufacturing partner of Davanti Tyres. Tyres & Accessories asked Sean Maddocks, Davanti sales director for UK and Ireland, what the IPO would mean for its own relationship and growth plans.
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