Bridgestone has said it may close its Bridgestone/Firestone Dayton tyre plant, in Oklahoma City.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The factory employs around 1,400 people, but it lost US$40m last year and $17m in the first quarter of this year. Discussions with union representatives are on-going and no closure is expected before 31 December.
However Bridgestone has said the plant closure is likely to result in a $170m loss and that it will book a special loss of £140m related to the closure in the first half of this year.
Bridgestone said its net profit rose 4% in the first quarter, to 27.1bn yen (US$240m).
Operating income rose 8% to 47.4bn yen ($419m). Quarterly sales rose 17% to 704.7bn yen ($6.2bn) from 603.9bn yen.
Bridgestone’s results have only recently recovered from the effect of a massive recall of its tyres on Ford vehicles. Bridgestone paid $240m to Ford last year to settle its dispute with the company.
Bridgestone has boosted its profits by developing more expensive, higher value-added tyres. Sales in the Americas increased 25% and were up 13% in Europe, 10% in Japan and 37% in the rest of the world.
Because of the plant closure, for the first half of the year Bridgestone now expects net profit of 30bn yen, a decline of 71% compared to a year earlier.
