Warm weather cools Delticom tire trade

ERJ staff report (TP)

Hanover, Germany – Tire dealer Delticom reported a 6.5% revenue increase in its first half-year results, despite a decline in summer tire sales in the second quarter.

The company had a revenue of €226.1 million – in the same period last year it was €212.2 million. EBITDA came in at €6.2 million, which equates to an EBITDA margin of 2.7 %.

Delticom said: “Warm temperatures in March prompted many motorists to make an early switch to summer tires. As a result, the summer tire business cooled off in the second quarter.

“First assessments from trade associations for the past quarter showed summer tire sales in Germany down by nearly 7% year on year.”

Tirendo – the online tire shop owned by Delticom – saw a revenue of €17.5 million, which was nearly unchanged from H1 2013.

Whereas Tirendo's revenue increased by 131.2% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, business in the second quarter was unable to match the “positive development” at the beginning of the year. Its revenue decreased by 33.8% to €9.2 million in Q2 2014.

Delticom bought Tirendo in September 2013. Tirendo was founded in October 2011 by German private media group European Media Holding.

In terms of outlook, Delticom said: “Following the disappointing level of demand for winter tires over the last three years, it remains to be seen as to what extent the hopes of the tire trade for positive winter business can be fulfilled this year.

“In the second half of the year, the development of the European tire replacement market will once again depend a great deal on winter weather conditions.”

The company continues to pursue revenue growth of 10% for the full year. As Tirendo did not make the “expected level” of group growth contributions in the first half of H1 2014, the target set for the second half of the year is “more ambitious” than at the start of the year and is based on the “assumption” that there will be greater demand for winter tires this year in comparison to the previous year.

Delticom was founded in 1999, and the Hanover-based company has more than 100 online shops in 42 countries – among others ReifenDirekt, www.mytyres.co.uk in the UK, www.123pneus.fr in France, as well as the Tirendo shops.