Symbio, Michelin’s equally owned joint venture with automotive supplier Forvia and vehicle manufacturer Stellantis, has inaugurated its SymphonHy facility today. Located in Saint-Fons, within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, the site houses Symbio’s headquarters, a production plant, an innovation hub and the Symbio Hydrogen Academy.
Despite a “complex market environment” the Michelin Group achieved “solid sales” in the past nine months, as chief executive officer Florent Menegaux emphasised yesterday when presenting the company’s latest financial information. According this Q3 2023 report, Michelin increased its sales by 2.0% to €21.15 billion in the first nine months of this year. This growth was driven by rising sales in the company’s Automotive and Specialty Businesses segments, which respectively increased 3.6% and 5.4% year-on-year. Sales within Michelin’s truck tyre business, its Road Transportation segment, were 4.3% lower.
Michelin has reported its business results for the six months to 30 June 2023, and chief executive officer Florent Menegaux describes these as good within a context of flat or declining tyre markets. The company is increasingly generating revenue through non-tyre sales.
The Governing Council of the UN Global Compact France Network has appointed Michelin chief executive officer Florent Menegaux to be the network’s president for a three-year term of office. The appointment took effect yesterday and began with his participation in a round table on the theme of ‘Growth or Decline: how to achieve inclusivity’.
Michelin is to acquire Flex Composite Group from private equity investor IDI for an enterprise value of €700 million, a transaction it expects will increase the revenue of its High-Tech Materials businesses by approximately 20% and create a “leader in high-tech engineered fabrics and films.” Michelin views growth here as an “important step” in developing “beyond mobility” and positioning the company as a ”key player in polymer composite solutions” in line with its Michelin in Motion 2030 strategy.
Negotiations between Faurecia, Michelin, and Stellantis have resulted in the signing of a binding agreement covering Stellantis’s acquisition of a 33.3% stake in zero-emission hydrogen mobility firm Symbio. Both Faurecia and Michelin now hold a 33.3% share in Symbio as well. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.
According to comments from Florent Menegaux, we shouldn’t expect to see Michelin in Formula One from 2025. Speaking to US-based automotive site The Drive, the chief executive stated that Michelin isn’t interested in supplying tyres to F1 unless the FIA alters its view on how they should perform. In short, the French firm doesn’t want to make tyres that liven proceedings by falling apart.
In June 2020, India’s government introduced new legislation that significantly limited tyre imports into the country, with companies intending to do so requiring a license. As one of many manufacturers affected by this rule, Michelin scaled back its imports of passenger tyres and limited these to selected products for performance cars. Further expansion in India will require local production, and the question for Michelin doesn’t seem to be if, but rather when.
In spite of lower sales volumes, a combination of “firm pricing discipline” and “fast-growing non-tyre sales” helped Michelin increase its overall sales to €28.6 billion in 2022. The company achieved segment operating income of €3.4 billion, while net income reached €2.0 billion for the year, up 8.9 per cent on 2021.
Negotiations have commenced for vehicle manufacturer Stellantis to acquire a “substantial stake” in zero-emission hydrogen mobility firm Symbio, with the expectation that it will become a “significant player” along with Faurecia and Michelin. Commenting on the negotiations, Michelin’s Florent Menegaux said the arrival of Stellantis will “catalyse the tremendous industrial momentum” that the existing stakeholders have already achieved.
In a market hit by the systemic impacts of the conflict in Ukraine and the health crisis, the Michelin Group reports that its net income fell by 18.3 per cent despite a year-on-year increase in sales. The tyre maker nevertheless considers this a good result “in an extremely unsettled environment.”
Michelin has marked the renewal of its support for the UNRSF (United Nations Road Safety Fund) with a donation of one million euros to facilitate road safety improvements in lower- and middle-income countries. It will donate this over the coming two years via the Michelin Corporate Foundation.
Following the publication of Michelin’s first quarter 2022 financial results, group CEO Florent Menegaux commented on the appointment of Pierre Michelin as president of the Michelin family’s Mage-Invest holding company. Mage-Invest holds 4.2 per cent of the shares and 7 per cent of the voting rights of Michelin Group.
Year-on-year comparisons of financial performance tell us arguably more about global events than an individual company’s economic trajectory at the moment. Thus, it came as no surprise a few months back when Michelin reported much healthier first-half results compared with pandemic-riddled 2020. Similarly, eyebrows aren’t raised now when the company notes the impact of rising materials, shipping and energy costs as well as a shortage of semiconductors and labour shortages upon its performance in Q3 2021.
Florent Menegaux and Yves Chapot will remain at the helm at Michelin for a further four years. The Société Auxiliaire de Gestion (SAGES), under the chairmanship of Vincent Montagne and in its capacity as a non-managing general partner of the Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin (CGEM), has decided to renew the mandates of Menegaux as a Managing General Partner and of Chapot as a General Manager.
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