Tire Manufacturers Report Mixed 3Q Results
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, said its net income fell to $110 million from $161 million in the same quarter in 2011.
However, two other tire makers reported higher earnings.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Findlay, Ohio, said its net income rose to a third-quarter record $74 million, compared with $17 million a year earlier.
In addition, Continental AG, Hanover, Germany, more than doubled its net income to 449 million euros ($563 million).
Goodyear said its total sales were $5.3 billion, down 13% from last year’s record-setting total.
Total tire unit volumes de-creased 12% to 41.8 million, primarily reflecting weaker volumes in Europe, the company said on Oct. 26.
Pricing improvements drove revenue per tire up 5% over the 2011 quarter, excluding the effect of foreign currency translation, Goodyear said.
The company said sales for its North American tire segment decreased 6% from last year to $2.4 billion as tire volume decreased 6% to 15.6 million units. Nevertheless, the segment’s operating income jumped 67% to $130 million on pricing gains of $87 million and $21 million of lower raw material costs.
In a conference call, Darren Wells, Goodyear chief financial officer, said the decline in North American volumes reflected “generally weak tire industry demand.”
Net sales at Cooper rose 4% to $1.1 billion, a record for any quarter, the company said on Nov. 2. North American tire sales in-creased 7.4% to $816 million on 4% higher unit volumes and higher price and mix.
Cooper said shipments of its Roadmaster brand commercial tires were up 4.2% for the quarter.
“We’ve been increasing our foothold in the commercial tire market in the United States and gaining market share with our Roadmaster series of truck tires,” Chairman and CEO Roy Armes said in a conference call.
Continental’s tire division generated 426 million euros in earnings before interest and taxation, up from 287 million euros a year ago. Total sales rose to 8.1 billion euros, from 7.7 billion euros. Tire sales rose to 2.48 billion euros, from 2.25 billion a year ago, the company said on Oct. 31.
