VMI owner upbeat over prospects despite market slowdown

Haaksbergen, The Netherlands – Dutch group TKH has delivered a positive assessment of its VMI tire building systems business, while reporting an anticipated dip in its first half performance.

“The long-term drivers for advanced tire building systems remain intact,” TKH said of VMI, the main revenue generator within the group’s Automated Machinery division.

Trends towards greater production flexibility, increased sustainability, and higher levels of automation “will fuel future demand for TKH’s highly automated tire building systems,” it stated 11 Aug.

As anticipated, said TKH, Automated Machinery’s performance in the first six months of 2026 reflected lower order-intake in tire building systems over previous quarters.

First-half sales decreased organically by 5.7% year-on-year to €218.5 million, while the order book fell to €259.2 million – versus €367.1 million as at 31 December 2025.

Added-value decreased from 54.2% to 52.9% – though added-value in the first half of 2025 was positively impacted by the completion of several projects.

Lower turnover, together with the decline in added value, resulted in a 21.1% organic decrease in first half earnings (adjusted EBITA) to €35.0 million.

At present, concluded TKH, "geopolitical circumstances, high energy costs, and tariff uncertainties continue to delay order placements for tire building machines by tire manufacturers.”