Michelin sales up 4.5% in North America
Tire Business staff report
Greenville, South Carolina -- Michelin North America Inc. reported sales of $8100 million (Euro 5529 million) last year, a 4.5-percent increase over 2006, based on a combination of higher replacement market sales and an improved product/price mix.
The improvement shows that MNA can “succeed even in a challenging business environment,†said president and chairman Jim Micali in a prepared statement.
“We have more work to do to cut costs and improve our productivity so that we can continue to compete against the flood of rising tyre imports, increased raw material and healthcare costs,†he said.
In the firm's commentary on its performance in North America's, MNA parent Group Michelin noted a “very satisfactory†increase in passenger/light truck tyre volume last year after several years of modest growth.
On the commercial side, Michelin said it consolidated its performance in a “dramatically declining†North American market.
Micali noted MNA is the most profitable tyre company in North America, but the firm declined to provide specific numbers. Globally, Michelin posted $2250 million in operating income last year, and North America represented 33 percent of global sales.
If MNA's earnings contribution was on par with its sales contribution, then earnings would be close to $750 million.
For comparison, Goodyear's North American Tire unit reported $139 million in operating income last year on sales of $8860 million (1.6 percent ratio); Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. reported earnings of $437 million on sales of $12 800 million (3.4 percent ratio); and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. reported $74.4 million in North American operating earnings through the first nine months of fiscal 2007 on sales of $1620 million (4.6 percent ratio).
From Tire Business (A Crain publication)
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