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The official start to work on Lanxess’ first production facility in Russia, located in Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, began on May 13. When completed at the start of 2011 the plant, operated by Lanxess subsidiary Rhein Chemi, will produce rubber chemcials for the Russia and CIS markets.
During the opening quarter of the 2010 financial year, Kumho Tires posted sales of KRW 586.4 billion (₤343.8 million), representing 27.7 per cent quarter on quarter and 18 per cent year-on-year growth. Operating profit during the three months to March 31, 2010 amounted to KRW 21.3 billion (₤12.5 million) and net income KRW 20.9 billion (₤12.3 million). The tyre maker comments that these gains result from an improved plant operation rate and greater export sales. Export volume during the quarter was up 40 per cent year-on-year, an occurrence Kumho attributes the general recovery of North America’s car and tyre markets – one of its key sales territories.
Considering an expansion of its services into new European territories, Gwent-based haulier Gerry Jones Transport was faced with the problem of height restrictions that ruled out its trailers’ conventional setup. The company’s solution is to fit the Michelin X One MaxiTrailer as original equipment on five new Wilson curtainside tri-axle trailers. They say that with a lower profile sidewall than traditional 385/65 R 22.5 tyres, the new tyres offer a reduced ride height of 20cm, therefore allowing increased volumes of nine cubic metres within 40-tonne limits. The tyres will therefore allow Gerry Jones to provide six additional services each week in France, Belgium and Holland.
Liberia based Firestone Natural Rubber Company (FSNR) recently worked with a team from Children’s Surgery International to provide 142 free operations on underprivileged youths at the company’s Firestone Medical Center in Duside. The 300 bed hospital, reopened in December 2008 after being destroyed during Liberia’s civil war, provides free health care to Firestone Natural Rubber employees and their families plus health services to the wider community.
Pirelli’s return to open wheel racing after an almost two-decade absence got underway last weekend with the opening rounds of the inaugural GP3 series at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya. A full grid of 30 GP3 cars lined up for the opening two races, held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, all fitted with Pirelli’s newly developed PZero 13-inch control tyres. Prior to each weekend’s races a soft, medium or hard compound tyre must be nominated for use by all drives, and on the weekend of May 8 and 9 – as will commonly be the case this year – the medium compound was employed.
Toyo Tire & Rubber has announced a return to the black with a net income of 2,957 million yen (₤21.5 million) for the 2009 fiscal year. The Japanese company, which made a 10,722 million yen loss during the 2008 financial year, earned a profit in the 12 months to March 31, 2010 despite a 12.4 per cent decline in net sales to 287,726 million yen (₤2.1 billion). Operating income during the recent financial year amounted to 8,664 million yen (₤62.9 million). The company’s tyre business unit posted net sales of 214,291 million yen (₤1.6 billion), accounting for 74.5 per cent of total net sales and a 11.5 per cent drop from 2008 sales. Ordinary income for the 2009 financial year was 6,933 million yen (₤50.3 million); a year earlier an ordinary loss of 1,395 million yen was recorded.
Michelin wants to play its part in the consolidation of the tyre industry, the company’s director of financial operations, Marc Henry told Germany's Boersen-Zeitung. According to these reports and others circulated by the Reuters news agency, Michelin will not simply remain an observer, “depending on the possibilities” of the market. Nevertheless this does not mean the company is likely to surrender its "societe en commandite par actions" status which protects it from takeover attempts as it concentrates power in the hands of the company's founding family.
Analysts have reported that Continental’s first quarter financial results (released last week) show a “100 per cent increase in numbers.” This means that, in Morgan Stanley’s view, the company’s net debt is now “under control at 8.2 billion euros,” approximately 200 million better than they expected.
“Excluding the 1.1 billion capital increase during last quarter, the net financial position deteriorated by 413m in the first quarter 2010, which was largely expected due to seasonality of working capital,” the analysts explained in an investor’s note dated 4 May, adding: “[Capital expenditure was unsustainably low, however, decreasing by 62 million euros year-on-year and represented just 63% of depreciation and amortization and 3 per cent of sales.”
According to Met Office statistics taken over a three-decade period, the UK on average experiences rain on 154 days of the year, and even during May, allegedly our “driest” month, more than 66mm of rain can be expected to fall. It is little surprise then that Kwik-Fit has decided to add Uniroyal to its tyre line-up. Uniroyal tyres, designed with wet conditions in mind, will be available through all Kwik-Fit outlets and through the company’s website.
Australian 4×4 magazine 4WD Action judged the Maxxis Bighorn MT-762 to be the best tyre in its recent mud tyre review. 4WD Action tested 11 tyres over five terrains to determine the best type of ‘all round’ tyre for 4×4 drivers. The 265/75R16 Bighorn emerged in equal second place overall, gaining high scores in the sand, hill climb and swerve tests, and was especially impressive in the mud. “Mud is definitely what this tyre was made for, with no clogging evident. It easily drove the bog hole at low speed the first time, scoring it a perfect 10/10,” the review reported.
A group of Formula One teams has formally asked Bridgestone Corp. to revisit its decision to leave the series after this season. Faced with as many as six separate bids from other tyremakers to take over as a race supplier, a number of F1 teams opted to make the formal request. Following last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, team principals met with Bridgestone motorsport director Hiroshi Yasukawa, who passed the request on to recently seated Bridgestone Europe CEO Makio Ohashi, who was present at the race.
Yasukawa told Autosport magazine that, “After each race meeting we make a report to Japan, so are going to report to our top board members about what has happened this weekend. Mr. Ohashi has also realized that F1 is very important for Bridgestone. I really appreciate the teams’ approach, and we are happy that they still trust in our company and they wish Bridgestone to stay. Maybe we have to reconsider because of the market and the environment. We also understand that F1 itself is more concerned about the environment now, and there is a new power train coming.
A pile of around 2,000 tyres caught light at a landfill site in Hampole, Doncaster on 10 May. Fire crews were called to the Hazel Lane Landfill/waste recycling plant, run by Catplant Ltd at around 4.50am, according to local news reports. At the height of the blaze, there were a reported 40 fighters from both South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire dealing with a fire which was thought to extend down to five metres below the surface.
The cause of the fire remains undetermined and a fire service spokesman said no investigations into the cause would be made until the blaze had been put out. There have been no reports of injuries.
Yokohama Rubber states it is establishing the position of president within its Tire Group. This role, which will be formally approved at a general meeting of shareholders on June 25, is to be undertaken by Hikomitsu Noji, who currently also holds the position of general manager of the company’s Tire Global Production Division. At the same time, Noji is being promoted from the position of director and corporate officer to that of director and managing corporate officer.
Titan Tire Corporation has announced price increases for Titan branded farm and construction tyres and Titan manufactured Goodyear branded agricultural tyres. Increases of up to six per cent will be implemented on June 1. Titan says the rises will “offset rising raw material, energy and transportation costs”, and adds that the prices of certain tyres may rise in excess of six per cent “due to realignment and positioning of the product.”
Independent garage group D&G Autocare, which operates seven locations in Scotland, is launching its own online retail portal. The new business goes by the name Net-A-Tyre and is accessible at www.netatyre.co.uk. According to the company, the online portal “offers customers the chance to buy tyres simply and easily online and have them fitted where they want at one of the company’s UK wide network of independent fitting agents.” D&G Autocare adds that it seeks to expand this already growing network.
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