Skip to main content
EVENT TRACKER
Keep track of rescheduled, canceled industry events with our COVID-affected event tracker - Powered by Snap Finance
Close
Sister Publication Links
  • Rubber & Plastics News
  • European Rubber Journal
tb-logo
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • OPINION
    • CORONAVIRUS
    • AUTO INDUSTRY
    • BUSINESS/FINANCIAL
    • COMMERCIAL TIRE
    • FACTORY FIXES
    • GOVERNMENT & LAW
    • INTERNATIONAL
    • MOTOR SPORTS
    • NEW PRODUCTS
    • RETAIL TIRES
    • SERVICE ZONE
    • SEMA/AAPEX
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • TIRE MAKERS
    • SPONSORED CONTENT
    • New round of Paycheck Protection Program funding opens
      Vaccine may usher sense of normalcy
      Cover-up: More retailers requiring face masks to curb COVID
      USW alleges COVID-19 violations at Kumho plant
    • Stengel promoted to president of NAPA parent Genuine Parts Co.
      Former auto exec Tyrone Jordan joins Cooper board of directors
      Bridgestone crafts virtual city to showcase sustainable-mobility initiatives
      Ford, Hyundai earn 2021 top North American vehicle honors
    • New round of Paycheck Protection Program funding opens
      H&H broadens precure OTR business with Continuum mold acquisition
      Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand, effective March 1
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
    • Gary Price to head Love's Truck Care operations
      TA opens 6th Oregon location, bringing 50 jobs to area
      Love's opens Speedco shops in Ariz., Calif., Ga.
      TIA adds more Spanish language training
    • New round of Paycheck Protection Program funding opens
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
      Wireless auto data debate continues
      World rubber demand in 2021 to recover to 2019 levels — IRSG
    • Point S Canada adds 61 stores to network in 2020
      New round of Paycheck Protection Program funding opens
      Ferentino Tyre opens Sri Lanka plant; eyes exports to U.S., Europe
      Sailun to expand Vietnam plant capacity over three years
    • TGI secures Cosmo-brand naming rights at Fla. race track
      Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg postponed until April
      MotoGP extends Dunlop race tire contract through 2023
      Revived Yokohama Drivers Cup to feature Ferrari, Porsche models
    • Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
      The new One: Nokian unveils all-season passenger tire
      Ford, Hyundai earn 2021 top North American vehicle honors
      BKT expanding its ATV/UTV lineup with Sierra Max Pro radials
    • Point S Canada adds 61 stores to network in 2020
      J.D. Power survey: Quick greeting key to customer satisfaction
      Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand, effective March 1
      Marko Ibrahim promoted to president, Bridgestone Retail Operations
    • Point S Canada adds 61 stores to network in 2020
      J.D. Power survey: Quick greeting key to customer satisfaction
      ASE opens registration for upcoming certification testing
      Bolt On, Global Payments aim for easier text payments for auto repairs
    • Denver's Brian Sump named AAPEX Shop Owner of the Year
      DUB, TIS Wheels founder Myles Kovacs is SEMA Person of the Year
      AAPEX: Using social media to promote your business
      AAPEX: Road trips trending, commuting on the wane
    • Vaccine may usher sense of normalcy
      2020 Review: PPP loans give boost to small businesses
      Latest COVID relief bill includes $325B in small-business support
      AAPEX: Do more cars in the shop mean more profit?
    • Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand, effective March 1
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
      Michelin completes rigid dump-truck tire lineup
    • Sponsored By Yokohama Tire Company
      7 questions to ask consumers when they need tires for a crossover SUV
      Sponsored By Yokohama Tire Company
      Stocking Tires for Crossover SUVs
  • SHOP FLOOR
    • BALANCING
    • DEMOUNTING
    • SAFETY
    • TIRE REPAIR
    • TPMS
    • TRAINING
    • VEHICLE LIFTING
    • WHEEL TORQUE
    • Video: Balancing Tire
      Choosing the right balancing equipment
      Safety tips for wheel balancing
      An introduction to wheel balancing
    • Video: Demounting
      Demounting Equipment
      Making rims ready for a tight seal
      Tire changer types, tips and trends
    • Video: Safety
      Making friends with OSHA
      Ergonomics on the shop floor
      Customers
    • Video: Tire Repair
      Tire repair: Shining a light on visual inspections
      Staying safe when repairing a tire
      Essential tools, materials and equipment for tire repair
    • Video: TMPS Service
      Decoding sensor data for TPMS diagnosis
      Replacement TPMS sensor overview
      The life-saving work of TPMS
    • Video: Training
      Advantages of apprentice program partnerships
      Options and resources for CE tech training
      Internship ideas to attract tech talent
    • Video:Vehicle Lifting
      All types of lifts for all types of work
      Tips and recommendations for lifting safety
      The gravity of proper lift points
    • Video: Wheel Torque
      Using torque sticks to speed service times
      The danger of too much, too little torque
      The importance of torque specifications
  • Multimedia
    • VIDEOS
    • PHOTOS
    • PODCASTS
  • Events
    • ASK THE EXPERT
    • LIVESTREAMS
    • WEBINARS
    • SEMA LIVESTREAMS
  • Data
    • DATA STORE
  • Resources
    • DIRECTORY
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • ADVERTISE
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 29, 2018 02:00 AM

Bridgestone still No. 1, but Michelin-Camso deal could shake up rankings

Bruce Davis
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    AKRON — After nearly a decade of "status quo" among the world's largest tire makers, the pecking order at the top could be in for a shuffle in the coming year or two, depending on how well Group Michelin's pending acquisition of OTR/industrial tire and wheel producer Camso Ltd. pans out.

    Michelin's $1.45 billion offer to buy the former Camoplast Solideal could boost the French tire maker's annual sales by $900 million or more, putting Bibendum in a position to challenge Bridgestone Corp.'s 10-year reign at the top of the global tire league.

    For 2017, Bridgestone retained the title of No. 1 tire maker by roughly $800 million over Michelin — $24.4 billion versus $23.6 billion — as Bridgestone's tire division reported 9.5-percent revenue growth versus 5 percent for Michelin.

    The revenue from Magog, Quebec-based Camso would go a long way toward nullifying Bridgestone's advantage.

    Michelin said combining the Camso business with its own OTR tire assets will create a global leader in OTR mobility solutions, with 26 plants, roughly 12,000 employees and annual sales exceeding $2 billion.

    Other major players in the OTR field include Bridgestone, Titan International (sales of $1.2 billion), Trelleborg Wheel Systems ($985 million) and Balkrishna Industries ($692 million).

    Goodyear remained a solid No. 3 in the rankings at $14.3 billion and maintained a $3 billion gap between it and No. 4 Continental A.G., which reported growth in 2017 of nearly 6 percent versus Goodyear's 1.4 percent.

    While Goodyear's revenue gap to Continental is solid, one research group — London-based Astutus Research — maintains Continental is on the verge of demoting Goodyear to No. 4 in terms of passenger tire capacity. Astutus contends that the scale of Conti's capital spending on new capacity in the past few years — totaling close to 20 million units a year — has pulled the German company equal with Goodyear in the passenger/light truck tire realm.

    One change did take place in the Top 10. Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (SRI) slipped ahead of Italy's Pirelli & C. S.p.A. into fifth after Pirelli completed the divestment of its commercial tire business — now operating independently as Prometeon Tyre Group S.r.l. and earning a spot of its own in the rankings (No. 32 with estimated sales of $900 million).

    Sumitomo aided its own cause with 16.7-percent higher tire business revenue — reflecting the enhanced business generated by the firm's new business units established in late 2015 after the dissolution of its global alliance with Goodyear as well as greater sales of high-value-added products.

    SRI's sales in Europe nearly doubled thanks in large part to the acquisition of Micheldever Group, a British wholesaler, and revenue in North America that grew 15.7 percent as the expanded Sumitomo Rubber North America hit its stride.

    Since starting the process to divest its commercial business, Pirelli's sales have declined nearly $1 billion — down to $6 billion last year from $6.93 billion in 2015.

    Another company that solidified its position in the Top 10 by acquisition is Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., whose purchase of Alliance Tire Group (ATG) in mid-2016 has bolstered the Japanese tire maker's sales since then by nearly 20 percent to $4.9 billion. ATG continued to pace YRC's growth through the first six months of fiscal 2018.

    The other major merger/acquisition of the past year — Qingdao Doublestar Group's $607 million purchase of a 45-percent ownership stake in South Korea's Kumho Tire Co. Inc. — has yet to have any bearing on either company's financial results.

    It's uncertain at this time whether the two firms will publish consolidated results. Should that happen, however, the resulting corporate entity's sales would be valued at more than $3.5 billion, or just outside the Top 10.

    There's precedent for this happening. Giti Tire Group, the Singapore-headquartered company, includes the results of Indonesia's P.T. Gajah Tunggal in its fiscal financial reporting, even though it's a minority (49.7 percent) owner. Michelin also owns a 10-percent stake in Gajah Tunggal, which produces some tires under contract for Michelin.

    For the annual Top 75 ranking, Tire Business rates the tire makers on their revenue from the sale of tires they've manufactured in order to achieve a more equitable "apples to apples" comparison.

    Excluded are items such as third-party sales of steel cord, synthetic rubber or carbon black, as well as estimates for non-tire items such as auto-service-related revenue at company-owned retail stores.

    Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear and Continental, for example, report hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in revenue from their respective captive retail networks. In addition, Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear derive a measurable amount of revenue from the sale of synthetic rubber or other raw or semi-processed materials to third parties.

    Bridgestone's position at the top of the ranking is solidified by minority ownership stakes it holds in two other Top 75 companies — a 43.6-percent stake in Turkey's BRISA/Bridgestone-Sabanci Tire Mfg. (No. 42 with 2017 sales of $630.2 million) and a 14.6-percent stake in Finland's Nokian Tyres P.L.C. (No. 21 with $1.65 billion in tire manufacturing-related sales).

    Further down the list, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. claimed 12th ahead of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. based on its growth of 7.9 percent versus a 2.9-percent sales drop by Cooper.

    Besides Prometeon Tyre Group, there were just two other firms debuting in the ranking this year:

    • Danang Rubber Co. of Danang, Vietnam — No. 71 with sales of $163.7 million; and
    • Shandong Fengyuan Tyre Co. Ltd. — No. 73 with sales of $156.1 million.

    Nearly half, 33, of the companies in the top 75 are from China, including four among the top 20 — Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (No. 10), Linglong Group Co. Ltd. (No. 17), Shandong Hengfeng Tyre Co. Ltd. (No. 18) and Sailun Jinyu Tyre Co. Ltd. (No. 19).

    One of the 33, however — Shandong Yongtai Group — recently went under court-ordered administration.

    Other countries represented in the ranking include India (seven companies), Taiwan (five), the U.S. (five), Japan (four), Italy (three), South Korea (three), Russia (two), Turkey (two), Vietnam (two) and one each from Argentina, Belarus, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iran and Singapore.

    Only two of the 24 publicly traded companies outlined in this report suffered tire business sales declines in 2017 versus 2016 — Cooper Tire and Triangle Group — while seven tire companies or tire divisions recorded double-digit growth, led by Trelleborg Wheel Systems (39.7 percent) and Brisa Bridgestone (29.9 percent).

    Trelleborg's growth reflects the full-year integration of Mitas A.S.'s tire business, while BRISA Bridgestone noted a strong Turkish market and a measurable increase in export sales of its Lassa brand.

    Collectively, the top 10 tire companies accounted for slightly more than 62 percent of the world's tire sales last year, based on Tire Business' numbers — down 2 points from the 2016 ranking, the first time in four years the top tier has failed to defend or improve its position vis-à-vis the rest of the global competitors.

    The divestment of Pirelli's commercial tire business accounted for some of the decline.

    The average operating earnings ratio among the 24 publicly traded companies that Tire Business monitors for this report was 10.3 percent, down a point and a half from the 11.8 percent recorded in 2016.

    Fifteen of the 24 companies reported lower operating income in 2017 versus 2016 and two — Kumho Tire Co. and Titan — were in the red on an operating basis.

    Finland's Nokian Tyres and Indonesia's P.T. Gajah Tunggal were the most profitable, percentage-wise, with 23.2- and 17.4-percent operating ratios, respectively, research shows.

    The average net income ratio for the group of 24 was 6.1 percent, a 0.7-percentage-point drop from 2016. Fourteen of the 24 firms registered lower net income last year vs. 2016 and two — Titan and Kumho Tire — were in the red.

    The average sales per employee for the 23 publicly traded companies that provided employment data was $203,847, up nearly 6 percent over 2016.

    Nokian had the highest sales per employee at $382,894, ahead of Nexen Tire Corp. at $321,731; Cooper Tire at $310,158; Toyo Tire at $308,394, Hankook Tire at $274,295 and Kumho Tire at $241,648.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Newsletter Center

    Staying current is easy with Tire Business delivered straight to your inbox.

    SUBSCRIBE TODAY

    Subscribe to Tire Business

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Tire Business is an award-winning publication dedicated to providing the latest news, data and insights into the tire and automotive service industries.

    tb-logo
    Reader Services
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Site Map
    • Industry Sites
    • Order Reprints
    • Customer Service: 877-320-1716
    Partner Sites
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Automotive News
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Media Guide
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Classified Rates
    • List Rental
    • Digital Edition
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • OPINION
      • CORONAVIRUS
      • AUTO INDUSTRY
      • BUSINESS/FINANCIAL
      • COMMERCIAL TIRE
      • FACTORY FIXES
      • GOVERNMENT & LAW
      • INTERNATIONAL
      • MOTOR SPORTS
      • NEW PRODUCTS
      • RETAIL TIRES
      • SERVICE ZONE
      • SEMA/AAPEX
      • SMALL BUSINESS
      • TIRE MAKERS
      • SPONSORED CONTENT
    • SHOP FLOOR
      • BALANCING
      • DEMOUNTING
      • SAFETY
      • TIRE REPAIR
      • TPMS
      • TRAINING
      • VEHICLE LIFTING
      • WHEEL TORQUE
    • Multimedia
      • VIDEOS
      • PHOTOS
      • PODCASTS
    • Events
      • ASK THE EXPERT
      • LIVESTREAMS
      • WEBINARS
      • SEMA LIVESTREAMS
    • Data
      • DATA STORE
    • Resources
      • DIRECTORY
      • CLASSIFIEDS
    • ADVERTISE
    • DIGITAL EDITION