Goodyear 3Q Net Falls To $31 Million; Year-Ago Had Gain For Unit Sale

Tag : Tires & Tyres

DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT), North America's largest tire maker, said its third-quarternet income fell to $31 million as both consumer and auto-maker demand slowed as a result of theweakening economy.
Net income was 13 cents a share, down from $668 million , or $2.75 a share, for the same period a year earlier, the Akron, Ohio , company said in a statement Monday. The year-earlier resultsincluded a gain of $517 million , or $2.12 a share, from the sale of the engineering-products division.
Goodyear's profit, although smaller, highlights how the company'sbet to build and sell more high-end tires, continues to pay off.Sales for the quarter increased 2% to $5.2 billion , while the revenue per tire increased 8%. High-end tires generallyare bought by sport-utility-vehicle and luxury-car owners. Goodyearhas also successfully implemented price increases to cover its rawmaterial costs.
The company temporarily is idling plants as needed to keepproduction in step with demand, whereas other competitors areslashing output or considering plant shutdowns.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB), the second-largest North America tire maker, is currently studying its operations and may be forcedto close a plant and cut jobs. BFGoodrich, a subsidiary of Michelin(12126.FR), will begin temporarily laying off as many as 40% of itsproduction workers at three of its plants this month.
-By Jeff Bennett , Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5542; jeff.bennett@dowjones.com
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