Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. recorded sales of almost $7.7 billion in 2024, up 2.9% from 2023. The company achieved a profit of $62.6 million, a 73% drop from the $262.5 million recorded at the end of the prior year.
The tiremaker is expecting to make another 3% gain in 2025, with a forecast that calls for $7.9 billion in sales for the year. Some of those gains are expected to come from “increased sales in North America and Australia due to the acquisition of the Dunlop trademark rights as well as increased profits from an improvement in the ratio of premium tires.”
While 2024 tire volumes were down, SRI’s tire revenue, which represents by far the largest portion of the company’s overall business, was up 4% in 2024. (The company’s sports and industrial and other products categories were both down.) SRI also reported a 19.8% increase in profit from its tire business during the year.
Tire Sales Around the World
In Japan, SRI’s original equipment business declined significantly due to a typhoon at the end of August 2024, as well as production cutbacks by some automakers.
The Japanese replacement tire market saw gains with an increase in summer tire volumes over the previous year. But winter tire sales dropped below 2023 levels. “Overall sales volume fell below the levels of the previous fiscal year due in part to having strategically reduced low-profit products,” SRI said.
Outside of Japan, SRI says OE tire sales “substantially declined” in 2024 due to fewer sales to Japanese automobile manufacturers in Asia. (The tiremaker didn’t provide commentary on the OE market in North America.)
In the replacement market, market stagnation in China resulted in sales that were “slightly below” 2023 levels. In Europe, sales slipped due to temporary supply issues with the company’s Falken brand.
In North America, SRI says replacement volumes fell “slightly” in 2024 compared to the previous year — though the tiremaker noted that Falken WildPeak tire sales were up.
Replacement sales were up in South America as the company “made efforts to expand sales in the difficult sales environment where import products increased in the market against the backdrop of a decline in ocean freight, having been working with the distributors.”
Closing Down Production in the U.S.
SRI noted that the closing of its plant in Tonawanda, N.Y. in November 2024 will influence its 2025 financials. The company also dissolved its Sumitomo Rubber USA LLC subsidiary. An impairment loss of $265.2 million was recorded related to the manufacturing equipment at the plant. Additionally, another $175.3 million loss was recorded related to the shutdown and restructuring, “including special retirement allowances and inventory write downs.”
What SRI Sees in the Dunlop Brand
SRI offered some additional insight into what it sees, and wants to achieve, with its acquisition of the Dunlop brand from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.:
“The Group has been considering means for further maximizing the value of products, which use our unique technologies for differentiation, to steadily implement the structural reform under the New Mid-Term Plan and to accelerate the growth of our core tire business.
“Through this acquisition of the trademark and other rights of Dunlop in tires for four-wheel vehicles from Goodyear, the Group will deploy the Dunlop brand on a global scale with the exceptions of some regions and product lines.
“Taking advantage of the benefits of the Dunlop brand, a brand with a high degree of recognition that can maximize the value globally, the Group will differentiate our products from those of other companies by using advanced technologies and will increase the ratio of premium products globally.
“In addition, the Group will strengthen its companywide brand strategies in coordination with the Dunlop brand in the sports business, which it already holds, to expand the sales of Dunlop brand products.”
SRI paid Goodyear $526 million for the brand, plus an additional $105 million for expenses related to the sale, such as the transition of customers in Europe and the purchase of inventory. The deal is expected to close in May 2025.
