Michelin gained up to nearly 3% on Friday, in the largest increases in the Cac 40 and twice as much as the flagship index. If the title of the tire manufacturer benefited from the general rebound of the market, which passed Thursday evening in the “bear market”, i.e. down more than 20% compared to its last peak, recorded at the beginning of January, it was also able to count on the momentum given by Finland’s Nokian Renkaat, or Nokian Tyres, which jumped 11% on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. It is also one of the best performances of the Stoxx 600 index of major listed European stocks.
Nokian Renkaat, established in 1988, is the largest tire manufacturer in the Nordic countries. This morning, the group revised its forecasts for the year 2022, and in an optimistic way, which is rare in the current environment, where growth and margins tend to be weighed down by soaring prices, shortages of components and cost increases related to supplies, logistics and labor.
“Pricing Power”
Admittedly, sales will remain under pressure compared to 2021, but they should only drop slightly this year, or even equal those of the previous financial year, whereas they were previously expected to decline significantly. Demand for tires has indeed remained strong and the company has managed to raise its prices to mitigate cost inflation. A good example of “pricing power”.
On the other hand, uncertainties remain high for the second part of the year. ” The war in Ukraine and the sanctions that have been decided continue to have a significant impact on the operating environment of Nokian Tireswrites the industrialistespecially with regard to Russia. “The group’s commercial outlets will thus be “ severely “limited by sanctions,” which will have a negative impact on the operating result of the business segments “. Despite the increase in sales forecasts, operating and net profits should therefore decline. significantly » compared to 2021.
See you April 26
In the first quarter, Michelin had also benefited from a strong price effect, positive 11.9%. He alone explained nearly two-thirds of the 19% growth in turnover observed in the first three months of the year. Added to this was the “mix”, i.e. the continued move upmarket (1.6%), a currency effect of 3.4%, mainly linked to the rise in the greenback, a slight scope effect ( 0.5%) and growth in activities excluding tires (0.7%). That related to volumes (0.5%) was therefore low.
Despite difficulties in terms of logistics and an original equipment market still very complicated due to the lack of semiconductors, the group had maintained its forecasts of an operating profit for the sectors above 3.2 billion euros at parity constants and free structural self-financing of more than 1.2 billion for the year. Michelin will publish its first quarter figures on April 26.