Carbon Black Businesses Discuss Joint Venture
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. are discussing the details of a possible joint venture.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. are discussing the details of a possible joint venture.
Bridgestone has resumed rubber-rolling operations at its Tochigi refining facility two months ahead of schedule. Production was suspended after the building was destroyed by fire in September 2003.
Bridgestone Corporation is set to make a nine per cent gain in net profit to $891.6 million (£490.3 million) by the end of this fiscal year, according to a Japanese newspaper report.
Bridgestone Corporation announced that it has begun supplying Potenza RE050 runflat tires to BMW for factory installation on 6 Series models sold in Japan.
As from April 2004, Minekazu Fujimura has taken up the position of Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of Bridgestone Europe (BSEU).
Toyo and Michelin signed a licensing agreement, under which Michelin will license its PAX System technology to Toyo. With the new agreement, Toyo obtains rights to produce and market run-flat systems for passenger cars and light trucks based on PAX System, both for auto makers and the replacement tire market in Japan.
Japan-based ALPS Electric has completed development of a batteryless tyre pressure monitoring system and plans to commence mass production this year. The system has been developed in collaboration with the world’s leading tyre and valve manufacturers and will be on display at the ALPS Show, to be held at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo for three days, beginning 26th May.
Robert J. Keegan, chairman and chief executive officer of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, has been elected to the board of directors of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. in Kobe, Japan. Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber Industries have six joint venture businesses in North America, Europe and Japan. In addition, each company holds common stock in the other.
The group recorded a 96 per cent increase in net income in 2003, to ¥88.7 billion (0.8 billion US dollars), on a 2 per cent increase in net sales, to 21.5 billion US dollars. Operating income was basically unchanged, at 1.7 billion US dollars, and ordinary income rose 13 per cent 1.6 billion US dollars. Net return on shareholders’ equity was 10.5 per cent, compared with 5.6 per cent in the previous year. Contrasting geographical trends characterized the operating environment. In Japan, economic recovery was weak. In the latter half of the year the weakening of the dollar affected Japanese exports adversely. Escalating costs for natural rubber and other raw materials undercut profitability in all principal markets throughout the year. Sales of tyres increased 2 per cent to 17.2 billion US dollars. However, operating income in the tyre segment declined 4 per cent to 1.4 billion US dollars. Sales in Europe rose 20 per cent to 2.7 billion US dollars, and operating income climbed 87 per cent to 0.14 billion US dollars, reflecting success in focusing sales on high-value products and the results of a financial restructuring in the previous year.
Bridgestone Corp. said yesterday it expects a group special profit of around 60.0 billion yen (445 million euro) related to plans to return 65.0 billion yen in pension assets to the government in 2005. The Japanese tyre maker said that on a parent basis it expects a special profit of around 60.0 billion yen. Since the move is planned for 2005, the size of the special profit it will book may change, the company said. Many companies in Japan have opted to return the state-financed portion of employee pension plans they managed on behalf of the government.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced its consolidated results for the first half of fiscal 2004. The high value of the yen and sluggishness in the market for replacement tyres in Japan led to an overall decline in Yokohama’s tyre sales, but sales of hydraulic hoses and golf products increased. Sales of the tyre group amounted to 960.3 million Euro, a 0.8 per cent slide, and operating income decreased 27.5 per cent, to 15.1 million Euro. Demand in the Japanese market fell considerably, as both unit- and value-based sales of replacement tyres contracted. Sales of tyres on an original equipment basis were basically unchanged. Reflecting the current operating environment and these results, in fiscal 2004 Yokohama forecasts consolidated net sales of 3.02 billion Euro, a 0.1 per cent decrease, and net income of 75.6 million Euro, a 1.4 per cent decrease.
Yokohama is set to invest 5.5 billion Yen (US$ 50.8 million) to build a new factory in Thailand, producing steel radials for trucks and buses. The new factory – Yokohama’s second for CV tyres outside Japan (the first is in the USA) – will initially produce 300,000 tyres annually, with this figure doubling to 600,000 units by 2007. The tyres will be marketed world-wide.
Car drivers in Germany, long held to be home to some of the best engineered vehicles in the world, are happier driving Japanese cars than German ones, a consumer satisfaction survey has shown. The survey, complied by German drivers association ADAC and the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) group, asked more than 38,000 German car owners how satisfied they were both with the product and the service they received from manufacturers. German industry stalwarts Mercedes, Volkswagen and Opel came in near the bottom of the pile, while Japanese names clinched the top seven places. Porsche, the world’s most profitable carmaker famed for its growling sports cars, was the only German company to make it into the top ten. Japan’s Toyota, maker of the world’s best selling car, the Corolla, and the envy of the auto industry due partly to the efficiency of its plants, topped the list. Subaru, Honda, Mazda and Nissan completed the top five.
Bridgestone Corp, Japan’s biggest tyre maker, said on Wednesday that European plane maker Airbus will use its tyres on all its aircraft. Bridgestone, which already supplies tyres to Airbus’s rival Boeing, said in a statement that it had certified its tyres for use on all aircraft models, ranging from the long-range A330 to the single-aisle A320 planes. The deal follows an announcement in June that Bridgestone will supply tyres for Airbus’s A380 — a next-generation super jumbo that is being touted as the world’s biggest passenger plane and is due to go into service in early 2006. A Bridgestone spokeswoman said the latest agreement would help boost sales of Bridgestone’s aircraft tyre business but would have a negligible impact on its earnings outlook. Bridgestone has one-third of the global market for passenger aircraft tyres, and its annual aircraft tyre sales came to around 10 billion yen (80 million euro), or 0.5 percent of total revenues, in 2002/03.
Honda’s net profit for the third quarter was up 58 per cent to 137.36 billion Yen (1.08 bn Euro). The main reasons were strong sales of the Accord in China and the USA, plus good US sales of the Pilot and Element SUVs. Operating profit was down slightly at 151.69 billion Yen (1.2 bn Euro), compared with 153.05 billion Yen for the same period last year. Despite the good figures, Honda says that full year revenue will probably be lower than forecast, due to unfavourable currency movements and continued low sales in Japan.
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