Christina Zamarro has been appointed Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s vice president of Finance and treasurer. She succeeds Peter R. Rapin, who steps down from the role tomorrow ahead of his retirement on 1 October 2020. In her new role, Zamarro reports to Darren R. Wells, the tyre maker’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.
The phased approach that Goodyear is taking to restart its tyre production in the EMEA region continues. The company has already announced that truck tyre production is up and running again at some sites in Europe, with tyre making partially recommencing in plants in Colmar-Berg (Luxembourg), Wittlich (Germany), Kranj (Slovenia), Debica (Poland) and Izmit (Turkey) over the last two weeks. The next plants to return to production are Goodyear’s Hanau, Fulda, Fürstenwalde and Riesa plants in Germany and in Amiens, France – all five will begin working this week.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company intends to permanently end production at its Gadsden factory in Alabama, USA. The company says this closure comes as part of its strategy to “strengthen the competitiveness of its manufacturing footprint by curtailing production of tyres for declining, less profitable segments of the tyre market.”
Preliminary results for the first quarter of The Goodyear Tire Rubber Company’s 2020 financial year were published today, with the company confirming its fiscal performance during the three months to 31 March was “greatly affected by the economic disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.” Tyre unit volumes declined 18 per cent year-on-year to approximately 31 million units and sales dropped 16.7 per cent to around US$3.0 billion.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber says its road testing and customer field tests involving connected tyres recently surpassed the 3-million-mile mark with initial studies showing these connected tyres can reduce stopping distance lost between a new and worn tyre by 30 per cent.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has responded to the coronavirus outbreak in China by temporarily closing its headquarters in Shanghai and the Goodyear Dalian Tire co. Ltd. manufacturing facility in Pulandian (Liaoning Province). Both facilities are expected to remain closed until at least Sunday.
Directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company have declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.16 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable 2 March 2020 to shareholders of record on 3 February 2020. The payout represents an annual rate of 64 cents per share.
As of 1 November, Andy Traicoff will take over as vice president consumer of Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Asia Pacific business unit. He moves to this role from his current jobs as vice president, customer experience of the company’s Americas business unit, a position he has held since October 2018. Traicoff will report to Ryan Patterson, president of Goodyear Asia Pacific.
The U.S. Senator representing the home state of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has written to the tyre maker, imploring it to improve the renumeration and treatment it gives workers at its plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Sherrod Brown, Senator for Ohio, urged Richard Kramer, Goodyear’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, to “take immediate steps” to improve both. He also criticised Goodyear’s decision to recently prevent Members of the United States Congress from touring the facility.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber says its decision to modernise two tyre factories in Germany, and in doing so lay off around 1,100 workers, will cut the tyre maker’s costs by US$60 million to $70 million a year. Chief financial officer Darren Wells anticipates that Goodyear will feel the “full benefit” of these additional earnings by 2022.
There’s little good news to be found in the latest financial results from Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Sales and unit volumes were lower in the first half of this year, respectively dropping 5.7 per cent to US$7.2 billion and 3.3 per cent to 75.4 million units. The tyre maker also reported a net loss of US$7 million for the six months to 30 June 2019, a contrast to the net income of $232 million announced a year earlier; this result includes several significant items, most notably $107 million in rationalisation charges that are primarily related to modernisation plans and layoffs at two tyre plants in Germany.
Teams from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will take to the track for ‘Prologue’ pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya tomorrow. One of the most significant moments of this anticipated public test session will be the return of Goodyear to international competition.
Sales and income were down at Goodyear Tire & Rubber in the first quarter of this year. Revenue in the three months to 31 March 2019 declined six per cent to US$3.6 billion; Goodyear attributes this result to unfavourable exchange rates and lower volume in its international businesses. The company reported first quarter segment operating income of $190 million in 2019, down from $281 million a year ago.
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