Asia Pacific’s third quarter 2018 sales decreased 7 percent from last year to $531 million, primarily reflecting lower tire volumes and unfavorable foreign currency translation. Tire unit volumes were down 4 percent. Replacement tire shipments were stable despite weakness in China compared with the same quarter a year ago. Original equipment unit volume was down 11 percent, primarily due to expected declines in our consumer tire business in China.
Third quarter 2018 segment operating income of $57 million was down 30 percent from last year due to higher selling, administrative and general expenses, partially driven by higher bad debt expense, lower volume and reduced price/mix.
2018 Outlook
The company revised its expectations for 2018 segment operating income to reflect the increasingly challenging industry environment. The company expects its segment operating income to exceed $1.3 billion. This outlook reflects the impact of higher raw material costs, which includes the negative impact of transactional currency headwinds, further industry weakness in China and economic volatility in Brazil.
Shareholder Returns
The company announced a 14 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to 16 cents per share of common stock on Oct. 10, 2018, payable on Dec. 3, 2018 to shareholders of record on Nov. 1, 2018. The payout represents an annual rate of 58 cents per share for 2018 and 64 cents per share for 2019.
As a part of its previously announced $2.1 billion share repurchase program, the company repurchased 4.2 million shares of its common stock for $100 million during the third quarter. Since its inception, purchases under the program total 52 million shares for $1.5 billion.
Conference Call
Goodyear will hold an investor conference call at 9 a.m. today. Prior to the commencement of the call, the company will post the financial and other related information that will be presented on its investor relations website:http://investor.goodyear.com.
Participating in the conference call will be Richard J. Kramer, chairman, chief executive officer and president; and Darren R. Wells, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Investors, members of the media and other interested persons can access the conference call on the website or via telephone by calling either (866)952-8559 or (785)424-1743 before 8:55 a.m. and providing the Conference ID “Goodyear.” A taped replay will be available by calling (800)839-1229 or (402)220-0459. The replay will also remain available on the website.
Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 64,000 people and manufactures its products in 48 facilities in 22 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to developstate-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go towww.goodyear.com/corporate.GT-FN
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