TOKYO (May 8, 2009)—Bridgestone Corp. fell into the red on an operating and net basis in the quarter ended March 31 as sales plunged 28.8 percent to $5.97 billion.
Bridgestone reported operating and net losses in the first quarter of $129.9 million and $366.8 million, prompting management to revise its loss projections for the first half by nearly threefold.
Bridgestone's sales and earnings drops were across the board, both by division and by region, the firm reported. The tire division was $76.8 million in the red on 28.5 percent lower sales of $4.8 billion.
Regionally, Bridgestone Americas Inc. was still in the black, but only barely at $3.2 million, or 0.1 percent of the unit's $2.64 billion in sales, which were 25.5 percent lower than a year ago. The company's operations in Japan and Europe were solidly in the red.
Bridgestone reported a few bright spots, including sales of ultra-high-performance tires in North America and Europe and large OTR tires globally.
Bridgestone said it now expects its loss for the six months ending June 30 to be about $650 million, or nearly three times that the company projected in mid-February. The sales forecast remains at about $12.6 billion, which would be nearly 27 percent below the fiscal 2008 first half.
Owing to the uncertainty of the global economy, Bridgestone declined at this time to make full-year projections.