Hankook signals ‘expansion investments' in US, Europe

Seoul – Hankook Tire & Technology is currently pursuing “expansion investments” at its production facilities in Clarksville, Tennessee and Racalmas, Hungary, according to a recent stock exchange filing.

In a 22 Aug filing, the South Korean tire maker said, “funding for facility expansion investment will be concentrated in 2025”, and once completed, the measures are expected to secure "an additional growth engine."

In the same announcement, Hankook disclosed that it has established a mid-term dividend policy for the years 2025 to 2027 based on its “strong profit-generation capabilities.”

In order to share future value with shareholders and achieve shared growth, the company said it planned to “gradually increase its dividend payout ratio to around 35% over the next three fiscal years.”

Hankook went on to add that it intended to “allocate resources toward sustainable growth, dividends to share growth with shareholders, and maintain financial soundness.”

Earlier this year Hankook said it was on track with a €1.6-billion project to increase production capacity for passenger car and light truck (PC/LT) and truck & bus radial tires at its US plant. 

The Korean tire maker is completing phases 2 and 3 of expansion at the Nashville site to double annual PC/LT capacity to 10 million units and produce 1 million TBR tires a year.

Once completed, the facility will be “one of the largest tire plants in North America,” said Hankook in an 11 March statement issued during transport industry expo in Nashville.

Hankook unveiled the expansion project in August 2022, with completion date set for end of 2026. (ERJ report)

The project, which was initially set for start-up in the fourth quarter of 2024, is expected to create 2,200 jobs.