Bridgestone reports declining sales and profits

Bridgestone has revised upwardly its 2020 sales and operating profit forecast as the economy recovers after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

The Japanese tire maker expects its sales revenue to reach 2,890 billion yen (23.2 billion euros) for 2020, up 7% from the previous mid-year forecast. In any case, these figures are below the 2019 level of 3,500 billion yen.

Bridgestone also raised its operating profit forecast by 50% to 150 billion yen for 2020, more than half its 2019 level.

For the third quarter of 2020, Bridgestone's operating profit fell 33% to ¥ 70 billion, while sales fell 10% to ¥ 790 billion. In the first nine months of this year, operating income fell 54% to 118.4 billion yen, and sales fell 12% to 2,150 billion yen.

Bridgestone's multi-product business accounted for 378.6 billion yen in sales and 2.5 billion yen in operating losses.

Sales in all regions showed significant declines, most notably in Japan and Asia-Pacific - 21% and 19%, respectively.

The Tire & Rubber business reported seeing a "noticeable" rebound in passenger car and light truck tire demand in the US, Europe and China, particularly in the replacement segment. In Japan, market recovery remains “relatively slow”.

European business Bridgestone reported operating losses of 9.9 billion yen.