Amtel-Vredestein holds shareholder meeting

Amsterdam, The Netherlands - At Amtel-Vredestein's annual shareholder meeting, the company gave a detailed breakdown of the Russian market for tyres and outlined its intentions to develop the region's retail sector and to switch into higher premium tyre activities.

Amtel-Vredestein said it cut total headcount to 10 900 employees in 2005, compared with over 18 000 in 2004. The company said further reductions are planned, and said there would be small restructuring charges associated with that reduction.

The company showed a presentation indicating that sales of premium tyres (A segment) will triple in Russia, to 12.8 million units by 2008, compared with 4.4 million in 2003, while sales of mid-range tyres (B segment) will almost double, to 15.2 million units (2003: 9 million) in the five-year period. In the low-end (C-segment) sector, volumes will decline to 22.7 million from 26 million over the same period, said the company.

A-V said it sold every tyre it made in 2005 and claims to be the largest tyre retailer in Russia. The company said its Kirov plant is now producing Vredestein-brand tyres after some delay, and suggested it may make further acquisitions either in Russia or beyond.

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Download presentation to shareholders from Amtel-Vredestein (2.5 Mb .PDF file)

Press release from Amtel-Vredestein