TOKYO—Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. reported record earnings for the half-year ended June 30 on 27.7 percent higher sales, prompting YRC management to revise upward the company's sales and earnings outlooks for the full fiscal year.
Operating profit for the six-month period increased nearly 16-fold over the 2020 period to $451.7.6 million, on revenue of $2.82 billion, yielding an operating ratio of 16 percent. The 2021 operating profit was nearly double that reported in the first half of 2019, pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
YRC cited "resurgent" momentum in its tires segment in Japan and overseas for the sales and earnings growth during the period.
Based on the positive earnings report, YRC revised its full-year fiscal projections for 2021 upward by 2 percent to 3 percent over those issued in May.
YRC's tires segment reported business profit of $151 million for the period, reversing a loss reported a year ago and more than double the earnings reported in fiscal 2019.
Sales rose 26.7 percent over 2020 to $1.96 billion, buoyed by "recovering" OE demand in Japan and China and strong replacement market demand globally, YRC said, reflecting the company's "vigorous promotion" of high-value-added products and expanded production to meet demand.
Yokohama's ATG (Alliance Tire Group) segment posted business profit of $66.1 million on 60 percent higher sales revenue of $447.8 million, yielding an operating ratio of 14.8 percent, four full points higher than a year ago and one point better than in 2019. Yokohama said ATG's first-half performance reflected "robust demand" in the product categories it serves.
In January, YRC merged its off-highway tires business with those of ATG and Aichi Tire into a subsidiary named Yokohama Off-Highway Tires, which the company said positioned as a growth driver. The company recently disclosed plans to double its investment in an OTR tire plant it's building in India.
