HELSINKI, Finland (May 7, 2009)—Nokian Tyres P.L.C. reported sales were down by 36.8 percent, to $208.2 million for the first quarter.
For the three months to March 2009, the company also recorded an operating loss of $3.6 million, compared to a profit of $72.2 million a year ago.
President and CEO Kim Gran said sales went down in line with the market, particularly in Russia, but Nokian was able to maintain its market shares in all core markets.
He also cited strong devaluation of currencies and measures in the company's core market regions as contributing to the weak first quarter. He said the deployed price increases and seasonal mix improvement with higher share of winter tires will improve average prices and profits from the second quarter on.