Crypton Buy Tractor Charger
Crypton Technology Group has bought Traction Charger Company Ltd. The acquisition will see the group’s product portfolio expand to include battery charging equipment, says sales and marketing director, Walt Koloska.
Crypton Technology Group has bought Traction Charger Company Ltd. The acquisition will see the group’s product portfolio expand to include battery charging equipment, says sales and marketing director, Walt Koloska.
Private equity firms Permira and CVC Capital Partners (CVC) have announced their acquisition of the AA. The companies have agreed to pay £1.75 billion, subject to regulatory approvals, for one of Britain’s best known motoring organisations.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has completed its previously announced acquisition of the remainder of Sava Tires, a tyre manufacturing company in Kranj, Slovenia.
Bridgestone Europe (BSEU) has bought mould producers, Mecamold. Mecamold’s acquisition comes after a long working relationship between the two companies. The Belgian company had been working with BSEU for 35 years and were its main supplier.
In the 2003/04 financial year (ending March 31, 2004), BERU Aktiengesellschaft (Ludwigsburg) increased its sales revenues by 16.4% from €304.5 million to €354.5 million.
Greater demand from customers and increased production in lower-cost areas helped raise Continental’s first quarter profits by 48 per cent – far higher than expected. 1Q net income was 129.5 million Euro (1Q 2003: 87.4 million), which was nearly 30 million Euro higher than predicted by industry analysts. Turnover for the period was up slightly too; from 2.82 billion Euros in 1Q last year to 2.99 billion Euros in the first three months of 2004.
Continental is to bid for Phoenix, the German manufacturer of automotive-related rubber products. Phoenix is based in Hamburg, has 10,000 employees and sales last year were 1.153 billion euro. Key products, accounting for around half of sales, are fluid handling hoses, conveyor belts and air springs. Industry experts estimate that the acquisition will cost 227 million euro. Net debt stands at 277 million euro.
Tim Chesney, the Managing Director of Romney International Limited, the exclusive distributors of GT Radial brand tyres in the UK and Ireland, would like to state unequivocally that the recent story about PT Gajah Tunggal Indonesia (GT) being acquired by Michelin, is untrue. This story first appeared earlier this month in the US based ‘Modern Tire Dealer’ magazine. It was subsequently reported on the Internet sites of other trade press. Tim Chesney says that this account is without foundation and it should be disregarded. The extent of the inaccuracy of the story is shown in the supposed facts given by Modern Tire Dealer magazine. They quoted Gajah Tunggal’s daily radial tyre production capacity as being just 12,000 pieces when the correct figure is around 25,000 pieces, says Tim Chesney. He goes on to say that the reality is Gajah Tunggal has embarked on a major and exciting expansion programme. This will see the introduction of many new sizes, series and tread patterns, including the all new GT Champiro BAX asymmetric series and the Champiro BXT.
Bandag, Incorporated acquired an 87.5% majority interest in Speedco, Inc. from its founders and Shell Oil Products US. Bandag, a world leader in truck retread tires and tire management services, will operate Speedco as an independent business unit. Speedco, headquartered in Cayuga, IN, provides quickservice truck lubrication nationwide through 26 company-owned and six licensed on-highway locations.
TBC Corporation, one of the USA’s leading marketers of automotive replacement tyres, has reported record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003.
TBC Corporation, one of the USA’s largest marketers of automotive replacement tyres, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of National Tire & Battery from Sears, Roebuck and Co.
So far the acquisition of General Tire in 1987 has not been a success story. During this year the loss will amount to 100 million Euro at least. This has to be changed, according to Conti’s chairman Manfred Wennemer and Martin de Louw who is responsible for Continental’s passenger tyre division and works in the North American headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two set out the goal: during the last quarter of 2005 the break-even point has to be reached. Wennemer puts his hope in de Louw as a new member of the board. De Louw in his strategy focuses on new products, the extension of low cost production sites such as Mexico, and the persuasion of a multi-brand strategy that in turn is borne by the brands Continental and General Tire. For the replacement market Continental hopes for good business with the car dealers because the tyres with the prancing horse have been widely sold on the OE market during the last couple of years – there will be a pull-through effect. Wennemer states clearly that Continental will continue its business with truck tyres in North America because this division has always been very profitable.
Kwik-Fit Fleet has announced record turnover for the first six months of this year; up 5.4 per cent to 54.6 million Pounds. This follows the acquisition last November of the Kwik-Fit group by CVC Capital Partners from the Ford Motor Co. KFF has also recently switched advertising agencies and London-based Atkinson Associates will now handle the 1.5 million Pound account.
Two years ago Trelleborg took over from Pirelli the 40 per cent share of the former commonly owned company Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS), which produces agricultural tyres. Now TWS aims at becoming market leader with its two brands Pirelli and Trelleborg.
A major part of this strategy is improving the name recognition of the Trelleborg brand, which up till now has been regarded as another name for bias ply tyres within the TWS-group while Pirelli covered the radial segment. In addition to that TWS is thinking about bringing another brand into the company’s portfolio. Whether this will be accomplished by the creation of a completely new brand, or by the acquisition of a known brand, has not been decided yet, Maurizio Vischi, president of TWS, told Tyres & Accessories.
The Swedish corporate group Trelleborg, named after the town where it is located, has reached a turnover of about 1.95 billion Euro and has almost 15,000 employees. As one of four Business Units, Trelleborg Wheels Systems (TWS) contributes about 330 million to the overall turnover, with 2,380 employees.
When it comes to the agricultural tyre segment, the direction of the TWS brands has been contrary. While the Pirelli brand was regarded as a synonym for the use of radial technology for agricultural tyres, the Trelleborg brand stood for bias ply forestry and implement tyres. Slowly, the boundaries seem to become blurred. For example, the new TM 2000 radial tyre for harvesters, and a new radial implement tyre, are produced with the Trelleborg logo on the sidewall.
The Trelleborg Group has signed an agreement with Smiths Group Plc of the UK to acquire its operations in polymer-based precision seals (Polymer Sealing Solutions – PSS). PSS has annual sales of approximately SEK 5.5 billion (599.37 million Euro) and some 6,000 employees, mainly in Europe and North America. Following the acquisition, the annual sales of the Trelleborg Group are expected to total SEK 22.5 billion (2.45 bn Euro), with approximately 21,000 employees in some 40 countries. The acquired operations will form a new business area within the Trelleborg Group.
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