The divestment programme underway at Trelleborg as part of the company’s strategy to focus on selected segments has taken a further step with the signing of an agreement to divest its brake hoses for light vehicles operation, which is located in Brazil and is part of the Trelleborg Automotive business area. The buyer is the French company Flexitech.
Trelleborg has reported signing an agreement with the European Investment Bank for an 80 million euro long term-loan. This loan, the Swedish company explains, is intended to finance a part of Trelleborg’s expenditures for selected research and development projects in number of European countries extending out into 2012. These research and development projects focus on the further development of advanced polymer technology and related products to seal, damp and protect in demanding environments.
Some two weeks after it acquired Watts Tyre Group – a purchase that Maurizio Vischi, president of the company’s Trelleborg Wheel Systems business area, described as a “further step in our strategy to continuously strengthen our positions in selected segments,” the Swedish firm has taken a further step towards focusing on its core business areas by entering into an agreement to divest its roofing operations. This part of the Trelleborg Engineered Systems business area will be taken over by Axcel, a Nordic private equity fund with offices in both Copenhagen and Stockholm. The acquisition requires approval of the appropriate authorities, and is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2011.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems’ TM900 High Power super single tyre is designed to fit the most advanced high power tractors, and now an extra large size (900/60R42) is on the market for the New Holland T9 from 350 to 500hp and the Case Steiger from 350 up to 450hp both in Europe and North America. At higher horsepower, tractors require dual tyres, which are typically recommended for field application only; Trelleborg says its super single 900/60R42 TM900 High Power has been engineered to combine outstanding performances both in the field and on the road.
Trelleborg has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the UK’s Watts Tyre Group through its Trelleborg Wheel Systems business area, an action the Swedish company believes will strengthen its industrial tyre segment position through geographic expansion and an increased presence in the aftermarket. Watts has annual sales of approximately £27.4 million and about 230 employees. The purchase consideration amounts to approximately £21 million.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has announced a price increase on agricultural and forestry tyres and wheels effective 1 January, 2011. The increases will be in the range six to 10 per cent in Europe and North America. The price hike includes all tyres and wheels for agricultural, forestry and light industrial application and is the result of escalating raw material costs, according to the company.
Continental Industrial Tyres has partnered with the world’s leading champagne producer, Moët et Chandon, for ten years now – all the time cooperating so the brand which is so famous for producing celebratory wine can avoid popping a cork for the wrong reasons.
Just as Continental Industrial Tyres are able to develop and produce products tailored specifically to customers' specifications and requirements, so the vintners and champagne makers at Moët et Chandon are able to meet individual demands. Both companies can also look back on long traditions. Admittedly, the champagne manufacturer was founded in 1743, making it older than Continental, which was established in 1871. Continental produces over 100 million tyres every year. In 2008 Moët et Chandon produced some 36 million bottles of champagne, with a good 100 million bottles being stored in the manufacturer's cellars, up to 35 metres below the ground.
Kirkby Tyres has announced that it is now offering the Galaxy and Primex tyre brands to the OE and replacement markets in the UK and Ireland. The range includes the popular Mighty Mow, Turf Special, Beefy Baby, Super Trencher and others, says the tyre wholesaler based in Speke. Alliance acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the Galaxy and Primex brands in December 2009, when it bought key GPX International Tire Corp assets. Trelleborg Wheel Systems had previously held the European distribution rights to the Galaxy brand, and had continued to supply European customers in the first quarter of 2010.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems is relocating its North American Headquarters and distribution centre, reports Tire Review. The move from Hartville, Ohio, to Fairlawn, Ohio, allows space for further expansion, greater warehouse capacity and more efficient logistics, the company said. “This was a difficult decision after 80 years in our Hartville location,” said Ydo Doornbos, managing director of Trelleborg Wheel Systems Americas Inc.
The consolidation of Trelleborg’s solid industrial tyre capacity in Sri Lanka has taken a further step forward with the opening of the enlarged Trelleborg Wheel Systems plant outside the city of Colombo. The company estimates that approximately 80 per cent of its total global solid industrial tyre production now is now carried out in Sri Lanka, a country it says is a “natural location” for it to consolidate production as it has an “excellent” raw materials infrastructure.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems reports its plans to expand production at its Tivoli plant are at an advanced stage and output will begin to increase before the end of 2010. The 224,000 square metre Tivoli factory, located near the Italian capital, already employs 600 workers and has received new lines for the production of forestry applications in readiness for an increase in forestry tyre output this year and next year.
A new tread design has been added to Trelleborg’s TM900 range. Available in size 710/70R42, the TM900 High Power has a new lug profile with a 15 per cent larger lug volume. The tyre is specifically developed to be fitted onto high-power agricultural vehicles and tractors, and Trelleborg says the TM900 High Power guarantees performance at high speeds, assures superior traction capacity and copes with the demand for increasingly large loads – all with minimal soil compaction for maximum agronomic yield.
Although its year-on-year sales share of the group total slipped from 11.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2009 to 10.7 per cent in quarter two of this year, sales at Trelleborg Wheel Systems grew two per cent year-on-year during the three month period. Sales for the division came to SEK 795 million (£70.7 million), a figure that represents eight per cent organic growth counterbalanced by negative six per cent exchange rate effects. EBITA margin in the three months between April and June 2010 was 10.3 per cent, down from 13.8 per cent a year earlier. The Swedish company states that markets outside North America and Europe recorded positive performance for volume and earnings.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has announced plans to increase prices by an average of 5 per cent in Europe and North America. The price hike – the firm’s second in the agricultural and forestry segments this year – is said to be the result of rising raw material costs. The latest round of prices increased will take affect on 1 Septemeber 2010, according to a company statement detailing the matter.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems S.p.A. will announced worldwide price increases on its industrial and construction tyres, which from the 1 July will see price hikes of 7- 10 per cent in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The increase will be between 5 and 7 per cent in North and South America, according to Trelleborg’s Industrial Tires Business Unit. Trelleborg last increased this segment’s tyre prices 5 – 10 per cent on 1 March 2010, following an announcement on 13 January.
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