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Battery Market Brands Growing, say Manbat, Johnson MDs

The UK battery market is seeing branded products in growth at the expense of private labels, though the latter still hold over two-thirds of the total market, according to Paul Matarewicz, the managing director of Johnson Controls Batteries and VARTA. Meanwhile, Manbat’s MD, Steve Sheppard believes that the rising brand awareness in the UK is a result of the general economic slump, to which consumers are responding with a desire for greater reliability and longer lifespan.

7th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Transense Signs MOU With Mesnac

International News, News

Transense has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Qingdao Mesnac Co. Ltd, the parent company of the Sailun brand’s tyre manufacturing division. According to an official statement, Transense and Mesnac have entered into an agreement to combine their individual areas of expertise, for the purpose of developing Transense's patented tyre pressure monitoring sensor technology for the attachment or embedding of these sensors into tyres. Under the terms of the agreement Mesnac have agreed to an initial upfront payment and will pay additional sums for technology transfer/engineering support on an as required basis. Transense shares rose 17 per cent following the news.

3rd September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Completes 100% Acquisition of Matador Rubber

Continental has completed its acquisition of Slovakian company, Continental Matador Rubber S.r.o. following the purchase of the 34 per cent stake held by the Cyprus-based minority shareholder, M.I.L. Investments Ltd for $67 million (£41.1 million).

28th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler Debt Deal – Paving the Way for a Merger

The Schaeffler Group has moved one step closer towards a merger with Continental AG after reaching an agreement with banks to refinance 12 billion euros in debt. According to a Schaeffler statement, the ball bearing manufacturer’s credit lines have been split into two portions of 4 1/2-year and six-year maturities and will be implemented in several stages. Refinancing deals were arranged with UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Unicredit SpA’s HVB Group unit, Commerzbank AG and Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.

19th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Deal Secures Saab's Future

General Motors Co. has confirmed it has signed a stock purchase agreement with Koenigsegg Group AB regarding the sale of 100 per cent of the shares of Saab Automobile AB. The deal is expected to conclude in the next few months and will then secure Saab's future. The stock purchase agreement will be subject to agreed closing conditions. Conditions to close the sale include expected funding commitments with Swedish government support and guarantees, as well as transitional assistance from GM, as Saab becomes independent. Saab is about to launch several new cars, developed with General Motors, that are in the final stages of development.

19th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Asian Tyre Stock Jumps on US Auto Rebate Extension

The possibility of an extension to the US’s “cash for clunkers” auto rebate scheme has led to a bump in Asian stock prices for shares in Bridgestone, Hankook and others, according to Reuters reports. The US senate is mulling over a plan to offer 200 per cent of the original funding for its car sales booster scheme, since the billion dollar pot quickly evaporated. Purchasers can claim a rebate of up to $4,500 when they trade in old models for new, green alternatives.

13th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Reports: Conti Execs Fear Contracts Will Follow Neumann out the Door

Continental AG said contracts, customers and employees could be lost if Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann is pushed out of his chief executive position. Quoting a document submitted to representatives of supervisory board members, Dow Jones Newswires reported that the group’s communications committee for management said: “We know that some of our customers are considering moving their business to rivals…We also run the risk of the attrition of further managers, at all levels, and the company losing its attractiveness as an employer.”

7th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler Accused of Blocking Continental Merger

Continental AG chief executive, Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann, has reportedly written to the Schaeffler Group’s family owners alleging Schaeffler has tried to block the two companies’ merger with “incorrect assumptions about the company’s value and a reluctance to agree to key points.” According to the Financial Times, the letter alleged that Schaeffler’s banks had “communicated an unrealistic value of 12 billion euros (£10.325 billion; $17 billion) for the automotive supplier.

FT reports that Dr Neumann is now “heading for a showdown with Schaeffler at [the] supervisory board meeting next week, when he will push for a decision on several key points as a basis for a merger of the companies.” The financial newspaper described a proposal document Dr Neumann has presented to supervisory board members ahead of the meeting. In it he demands that the combined group strive toward an investment grade rating as quickly as possible: “From 2010, the group should have a maximum net debt of three times operating profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and equity ratio of 25 per cent, the document says.”

23rd July 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

French Car Plant Workers Hold-Off Factory Bomb Threats

Factory bomb threats have reportedly taken over from so-called “bossnappings” (where factory managers are held hostage) on the part of French automotive worker faced with plant closures. According to news reports, workers at the New Fabris plant have voted to remove gas canisters they were using as explosives, union representatives are quoted as saying. In return for holding off their plans for what can perhaps be described as corporate terrorism (others may describe it as economic freedom fighting) the company’s union is demanding 30,000 euros (£25,870; $42,470) each from Renault and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen for all of its displaced employees. The combined figure of 60,000 is nearly ten times what Renault and Peugeot have committed to after buying New Fabris’ remaining shares, “subject to quality guarantees, on condition that the money goes to the company’s former workers.” The two car makers are New Fabris’ biggest customers.

20th July 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Double Coin to Sell Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Shares

Double Coin Holdings Ltd. announced on July 17 the intention to sell its 28.5 per cent shares in Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Co. Ltd (SMWT); the company says it believes this transaction is in the best interest of SMWT’s shareholders. The share sale will follow the applicable process and rules that apply under Chinese laws and regulations. At the same time a second shareholder, Shanghai Minhang United Development Co., Ltd, will also sell its 1.5 per cent share.

17th July 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti/Schaeffler Solution ‘May Take Months’

Finding a permanent solution to the Continental AG/Schaeffler Group combination stalemate may take months, according to a Reuters report. The news agency quotes “sources familiar with the matter” as saying: “There is a chance that the companies and their banks will decide on key points by the end of this year…but it is rather unlikely that this will happen this month."

10th July 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Group Reorganises its Finances

Financial analysts are predicting that the Pirelli & C SpA will separate shares in its tyre business from the holding company. Writing in an investor’s note, Deutsche Bank analysts predicted “near-term action to reduce holding discount by giving shareholders two stocks: a pure tyre company and a pure holding company” and valued the tyre company at between 0.21 euros and 0.33 euros/share.

Good take up of Pirelli Real Estate SpA’s capital increase, which closed on Friday 3 July and was 99.4 per cent subscribed, has also resulted in a 14 per cent reduction in net debt, according to analysts. The company itself reported it raised 397 million euros throught the offer.

9th July 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Share and Vote Amounts Change

The rights issue recently conducted by Trelleborg has resulted in the following increase of the number of shares and votes in the company during June 2009.

Prior to the rights issue, there were in total 90,357,261 shares in Trelleborg, of which 9,500,000 shares of series A and 80,857,261 shares of series B, corresponding to 175,857,261 votes in total. The number of shares has through the rights issue increased by 180,714,522, of which 19,000,000 shares of series A and 161,714,522 shares of series B. The number of votes increased by 351,714,522. As of June 30, 2009, there are in total 271,071,783 shares in the company, of which 28,500,000 shares of series A and 242,571,783 shares of series B, corresponding to a total number of 527,571,783 votes.

30th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Reports: Michelin to Sell Apollo Stake

Indian news sources are reporting that Michelin is intending to sell the remaining 7.3 per cent shareholding it has in Apollo tyres. On June 6 2009, Michelin sold a portion of its Apollo stake for approximately 500 million rupees (£6.67 million). The French manufacturer, which held an 11 per cent share in Apollo at the time, sold 3.3 per cent through open market sales. The company has held shares in Apollo Tyres since it acquired a 14.9 per cent stake in early 2004, a deal made at a time when a truck and bus radial joint venture between the two companies seemed likely.

Despite the venture’s failure to get off the ground and the September 2005 announcement that Michelin would acquire Apollo’s share in the joint venture, Michelin maintained its stake in the Indian company. According to reports, the French tyre manufacturer has made “a reasonable profit” from the sale of its Apollo shares. The reports follows Apollo’s takeover of Dutch tyre maker Vredestein Banden for a reported 175 million euros in May.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Debts Reach £822.1 million in 2008

Kwik-Fit has warned that it may risk breaching its banking covenants after being hit by increased debts and foreign currency effects in 2008. Kwik-Fit, which supplies around 5 million tyres a year in Britain, reported that net debts increased from £96.6 million to £822.1 million last year. Nevertheless Kwik-Fit reported flat operating profits of £75.7 million last year and managed to grow sales 9.8 per cent (up 0.5 per cent if you only count like-for-like sales) to £942 million despite the recession. However, according to a Sunday Times report on the company’s annual accounts, Kwik-Fit has already sold most of its freehold properties in an attempt to reduce its borrowings.

Directors and staff, led by the chief executive, Ian Fraser, own 11 per cent of Kwik-Fit’s shares. According to the Herald newspaper, Ian Fraser saw his pay and benefits surge by 40 per cent last year. Citing accounts filed at Companies House the report points out that the highest-paid director (assumed to be Ian Fraser) got a pay rise of £200,000 to £700,000 in the year to December.

17th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors