Goodyear "progressing well" with divestment programme

Akron, Ohio – Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is making progress with plans to divest 'non-core' assets, as part of its Goodyear Forward 'streamlining' strategy.

As previously announced, Goodyear expects to make over $2 billion (€1.8 billion) by selling off its chemicals business*, Dunlop brand and off-road tire business.

“The process for each one of these assets is well underway. It's exactly where we expect it to be at this point in time,” said CFO Christina Zamarro on a 6 May earnings call.

Promising a "more fulsome update” by mid-year, Zamarro added: “We are still working towards that timeline... things are progressing and progressing well.”

Launched last November, Goodyear Forward also encompasses a group-wide rationalisation programme, aimed at delivering annual, run-rate gains of $1 billion.

Involving a series of cost-reductions, including plant closures, the plan targets a doubling in 'segment operating income margin' to 10% by the end of 2025.

With facilities in Texas – at Bayport, Beaumont and Houston – Goodyear Chemicals produces butadiene rubber, isoprene rubber and solution styrene-butadiene rubber.

Goodyear Chemicals also operates a rubber antioxidants facility in Niagara Falls, New York, and an R&D centre in Akron, Ohio.

According to 2023 capacity figures from the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers, Goodyear is the world's eighth-largest synthetic rubber producer with an annual capacity of 725 kilotonnes.