International tire giant's overall performance decline in the first quarter

Continental Group: Control costs and reduce investment

On April 7, Continental Group, the parent company of the horse brand tires, announced its first quarter financial report for 2020. The financial report shows that the company's sales and profits have both declined due to the epidemic. Among them, the company's first-quarter sales were 9.8 billion euros, down 10.9% year-on-year;

Adjusted profit before interest and tax was 432 million euros, a year-on-year decline of 51%. Its rubber technology group division sales were 4 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 9.1%.

Continental Group predicts that the impact of the epidemic will continue, and revenue in the second quarter may fall to the bottom.

To further strengthen cost control, they have reduced project investment by 20% over the same period last year. During the reporting period, the company's plant and equipment costs have decreased by 167 million euros.

Hankook Tire: Focus on the development of high-end products

In the first quarter of 2020, Hankook Tire's operating income fell by 24.8% to US $ 88.6 million; its sales fell by 12.6% to US $ 1.2 billion, both figures fell below double digits.

Hankook Tire said that in the first quarter, their original and replacement market demand has declined. They attributed this phenomenon to the global economic slowdown caused by the epidemic.

The company pointed out that high value-added products are the key to the company's future plans. They will take measures to maintain the strong demand for these products to consolidate their high-end brand image.

Cooper Tire: massive salary cuts + layoffs

In the first quarter of 2020, Cooper Tire suffered a net loss of $ 12 million. In the first quarter, the company's sales were US $ 532 million, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%; of which, sales in North America decreased by 11.2%, and sales in international regions decreased by 28.8.

In the first quarter of 2019, Cooper Tire's operating profit was 26 million US dollars; in the first quarter of 2020, this data lost 6 million US dollars, a wide gap.

Affected by the epidemic, Cooper withdrew its previously released industry outlook for 2020. To maximize financial flexibility, the tire company also initiated some temporary measures.

These include large-scale employee salary cuts and the dismissal of some temporary workers.