The Trelleborg Group has reported what it calls “stable profit trends” in its third quarter results. According to the company, profit after financial items, before goodwill amortization and for continuing operations, rose by 36 per cent.
Dana Corporation has released third-quarter results that show a 33 per cent drop in net income. The corporation received $40 million compared with $61 million in the same part of 2003. The company achieved third-quarter sales of $2.1 billion, compared to $1.9 billion the year before.
With the closure of its Coventry based Jaguar plant scheduled for next September, Ford will shed 1100 jobs and the massive cash injections it has ploughed into trying to revive the brand. Jaguar has seen disappointing sales this year, its performance led to production cuts of 15,000 this year and its negative impact on the Ford group was realised through an unexpectedly high loss of £201 million in the second quarter.
The British brand has been hampered by falling global sales, especially in America, excess factory capacity and uncompetitive operating costs. The decision was not unexpected and the closure of the Brown’s Lane assembly line, which builds the XK sports coupe and XJ luxury saloon was based on the logic that producing 125,000 cars a year at three different factories was inefficient and costly. Foreseen or not, the restructuring is another blow to the British auto industry and one of its prestigious brands.
“Jaguar is currently turning out about 120,000 vehicles a year at three plants,” said analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities. “That’s about half the capacity of one full-size plant in the United States,” where its sales are down 11.5 per cent this year.
Understandably improving Jaguar’s financial performance has become a major priority for Ford, as its four luxury brands, with help from its Lincoln brand, are expected to contribute one-third of the manufacturers $7 billion pre-tax profit target by 2006. Despite the cost cutting measures Jaguar still faces a long struggle and has now abandoned its target of producing 200,000 models a year and is aiming to stabilise sales at the current level of 125,000.
The European Commission wants to abolish motor vehicle taxes as well as the registration taxes for passenger vehicles in the European Union. The taxation should be linked more strongly to the use of the car and the output of carbon dioxide.
Goodyear may have been in profit for the second quarter and may have posted record sales but not everyone is impressed. Deutsche Bank analysts have pointed out a number of flaws in the company’s optimism.
Bandag has announced that its second quarter earnings rose 37 per cent, largely due to the profits of its recently acquired lubrication service. The company announced earnings of $11.9 million (£6.4 million), compared with $8.7 million this time last year. Sales were also up, rising to $211 million, a $7 million increase on last year’s figures.
Firestone Industrial Products (FSIP), a business unit of BFS Diversified Products, LLC (BFDP), has announced that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Wolsztyn, Poland. The company’s recently formed Polish subsidiary, Firestone Industrial Products Poland, will produce air springs to support European demand from consumer and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers.
Ford continues to show signs that its recovery programme is on track. Its first quarter results showed an earnings per share of $0.96, as against Ford’s forecast of $0.45. The pre-tax margin was 4.7 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent last year and -1.2 per cent the year before. The figures show that Ford has improved from one of the worst performing car companies to one of the best in less than two years.
Shirley D. Peterson (62) has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. She is the 11th member of the board, 10 of whom are independent. Peterson spent 20 years as an attorney then, in 1989, was appointed Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1992 she was appointed Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service by President George Bush. In 1995, Peterson was named president of Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Goodyear’s chairman and CEO Robert Keegan praised Peterson’s record in business, government and academia, saying: “She will make important contributions to our board.”
Titan International’s financial results showed year on year a pre-tax improvement with reported net sales of 120.5 million US Dollars for the fourth quarter (up 11 per cent from 2002) and 491.7 million US Dollars for the year ended December 31, 2003 (up 6.2 per cent from 2002). Titan recorded a loss before income taxes of 33.7 million US Dollars for the year, compared to 44.3 million US Dollars in 2002. Maurice Taylor Jr., Titan president and CEO said, “The operating results achieved in fourth quarter confirm that Titan is making progress toward our goals of profitability. We were pleased that Titan’s orders surged beginning in December 2003, and continuing through first quarter 2004.”
The Australian Tax Office is attempting to collect up to $52 million Australian dollars (32 million euros) in tax and interest from Bridgestone Australia over an issue dating back 14 years. Directors said the ATO had issued an amended assessment for $27.7 million during the year, comprising the primary tax claimed and penalties.
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. announced the appointment of Patrick C. Cauley to the position of Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Cauley, who was serving as the Company’s Interim General Counsel, will continue to report to Curtis Clawson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
For the full year 2003, Bandag reported consolidated net income of $60.2 million, or $3.11 per diluted share, compared to 2002 net income of $2.8 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, which included the write-off of goodwill, primarily of TDS (Tire Distribution Systems, Inc), of $47.3 million net of income tax. Consolidated net sales for 2003 decreased nine percent to $816.4 million from $900.5 million in 2002.
Tenneco Automotive has named Paul D. Novas vice president of finance and administration for the company’s European operations. Novas will also continue in his current role as corporate treasurer. The appointment to this newly created position is effective immediately. In his new role, Novas will oversee all finance, tax and shared service operations for Tenneco Automotive’s European businesses, which operate in Eastern and Western Europe and also include the company’s South Africa operations. In 2002, Tenneco Automotive Europe businesses accounted for 35 percent of the corporation’s world-wide revenues.
Malaysian entrepreneur and BSA International Bhd group Executive Chairman Datuk Dr Cam Soh Thiam Hong, says the world is one huge market that is too lucrative to ignore. Soh Thiam Hong, who was the largest importer of alloy rims into Malaysia in the 1990s, turned the tables around and is now Malaysia’s largest exporter of alloy rims under his own BSA brand. For the year ended Dec 31, 2002, it posted revenue of RM113.7mil, of which 85% came from overseas sales. For the six months ended June 30, BSA posted a pre-tax profit of RM9.2mil on revenue of RM75.7mil. BSA is considering setting up two new factories – one each in Malaysia and China – which could produce an additional two million rims a year, for a total three million rims, over the next few years.
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