Nokian claims record order book at Q1 results

ERJ staff report (DS)

Helsinki -- Nokian Tyres group's net sales increased by 57.3 percent to EUR 289.2 million (EUR 183.8 million in Q1/2010). Operating profit grew to EUR 72.3 million (EUR 21.1 million) and Earnings per share increased to EUR 0.49 (EUR 0.16).

The company said is positioned to provide strong sales growth and to improve operating profit

clearly compared to 2010.

Nokian said production output increased in Q1 by 61 percent YOY. Even this, said the company, was not enough to satisfy

the growth in sales.

In resposne, said Nokian, two additional production lines for Russia (numbers 9 and 10) are being installed

with start-up during summer, which will further improve output and productivity. The new plant to be

built in Russia next to the current one will increase our annual car tyre capacity further by 5-6 million

tyres in 2012-2014. The investment and incentive agreement is being finalised with local authorities

and the new plant will commence production during H2/2012.

Overall, said Nokian, the market environment has improved clearly and demand exceeds supply in many product

groups. It added, "The visibility to this year's sales is quite good. Inventories of all our core products remain low in

Nokian Tyres as well as in the distribution."

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Press release from Nokian