Fiscal 2024 forecast upwardly revised after achieving record sales and profits in the first half

The Japanese economy in the first half of fiscal 2024 saw sluggish personal consumption, but business conditions in the materials and logistics industries improved, supported by an easing of the impact from previous constraints that had led some automakers to suspend production and shipments and by progress in passing on price increases. Meanwhile, the information and communications industry continued to enjoy favorable conditions. In overseas markets, personal consumption in the United States remained strong, but corporations’ capital investment has been decelerating. The Chinese economy fell back into a gradual slowdown, while the European economy continued to recover. In this global economic environment, Yokohama Rubber posted first-half sales revenue of ¥525.3 billion, up 18.5% year on year, and business profit of ¥54.6 billion, up 113.4%. Operating profit increased 99.6% year on year to ¥56.3 billion, and profit attributable to owners of the parent (net profit) expanded 68.3% to ¥46.6 billion. Each of these figures are record highs for first-half earnings. Considering our strong first-half results, we have upwardly revised the full-year fiscal 2024 forecasts we announced in February. We now forecast sales revenue of ¥1,105.0 billion, business profit of ¥128.5 billion, operating profit of ¥116.0 billion, and net profit of ¥78.5 billion. We distributed an interim dividend of ¥46 per share, an increase of ¥4 over the initial forecast figure, and we also have raised our forecast yearend dividend by ¥1 to ¥52, for a planned full-year dividend of ¥98 per share, which will be the fourth consecutive increase of our annual dividend.

Acquisition of Goodyear Tire’s OTR business

On July 22, we announced the acquisition of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s global off-the-road tire (OTR) business focused on tires for vehicles used by the mining and construction industries. Adding the globally recognized product and brand power of Goodyear OTR tires as well as the business’ cutting-edge technologies and specialized services to our OHT (off-highway tire) business will further strengthen our OHT business, which we have positioned as a key growth driver. Based on the steady implementation of our growth strategy and recent strong earnings results, we have upwardly revised the final-year targets of our medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026). We now target sales revenue of ¥1,250 billion, business profit of ¥150 billion, and a business profit margin of 12% in fiscal 2026. We will continue to our efforts to achieve our goals and be a company that is trusted and valued by customers around the world. We look forward to your continued understanding and support.

August 2024