AGL 38.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.16%)
AIRLINK 136.75 Increased By ▲ 2.56 (1.91%)
BOP 9.22 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (4.18%)
CNERGY 4.75 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (1.28%)
DCL 8.83 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.85%)
DFML 38.44 Decreased By ▼ -1.34 (-3.37%)
DGKC 85.40 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.29%)
FCCL 35.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.29%)
FFBL 76.99 Increased By ▲ 1.39 (1.84%)
FFL 12.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.31%)
HUBC 108.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-0.6%)
HUMNL 14.74 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (4.54%)
KEL 5.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.78%)
KOSM 8.05 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (3.87%)
MLCF 40.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.67 (-1.62%)
NBP 71.40 Increased By ▲ 1.70 (2.44%)
OGDC 194.75 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (0.58%)
PAEL 27.00 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (3.01%)
PIBTL 7.48 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.81%)
PPL 167.95 Increased By ▲ 4.10 (2.5%)
PRL 26.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.42%)
PTC 20.40 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (4.78%)
SEARL 92.84 Increased By ▲ 8.44 (10%)
TELE 7.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.25%)
TOMCL 35.32 Increased By ▲ 1.27 (3.73%)
TPLP 8.98 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (2.98%)
TREET 17.34 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.93%)
TRG 59.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.50 (-2.46%)
UNITY 31.00 Increased By ▲ 2.04 (7.04%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.46%)
BR100 10,895 Increased By 118.9 (1.1%)
BR30 32,660 Increased By 426.2 (1.32%)
KSE100 101,357 Increased By 1274.6 (1.27%)
KSE30 31,488 Increased By 295 (0.95%)

Finnish tyre maker Nokian Renkaat will have better results in 2010 due to its lower inventories regardless of whether there is strong market growth, the chief executive said on Tuesday. Nokian Renkaat has suffered in 2009 like other auto industry players as the economic downturn stifled demand and inventories rose. The company has cut jobs and reined in production as a result.
"Our sales will grow and results improve (in 2010) even if markets do not significantly improve, as there is no need for any so-called cleaning (of inventories)," Kim Gran told Reuters in an interview.
"(But) we expect some growth to happen (next year) in our main markets - Russia, the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and the Nordics. Drivers are everything from growth in gross domestic product to a recovery in car sales, of which there already are some signs."
Gran said the fourth quarter was going as had been expected. Nokian Renkaat had said previously it expected October-December operating margin to fall from the previous quarter.
The company will lift production in the new year, probably starting in the first quarter, after a planned 17-day shutdown in December and January at its plants in Finland and Russia, he said.
The CEO said he expected the company's investments would be clearly lower in 2010 because it currently had unused production capacity. He also said the company had made its raw material purchases for the remainder of this year and the beginning of next. He said he expected raw-material costs to rise in the second quarter of 2010 but did not see any major price rises in the tyre industry due to overcapacity.
Rivals like Michelin have been quoted recently as saying they were mulling investments in Russia, Nokian Renkaat's key market. However, Gran said he did not expect any changes in the competition in the near future.
"Customers are the same, production capacity is more or less the same, duties and pricing look to be relatively balanced ... in line with this year," he said. "The biggest change next year is that the economy is more stable, and there is slight growth in sight."

Copyright Reuters, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.