Goodyear Tyre & Rubber, the parent of tyre and battery chain Beaurepaires, has announced a series of cuts to its Australian operations, citing weak local conditions in favour of higher growth Asian countries.
In its annual report, the company announced it has “initiated plans relating to the closure of several retail facilities in Australia and New Zealand”, along with cuts to the 2800-strong local workforce.
“The Australian mining boom has slowed down a little bit and the Australian economy, from a consumer perspective, has also slowed down a little,” Goodyear chief executive Richard Kramer told investors in New York.
“We have a big retail presence in there and we’re looking at what we need to do to restructure that business in line with selling tyres where we can add value for our customers and ourselves.”
Australian IPO market picks up with $13 billion worth of floats on the way
Companies worth a combined $13 billion are planning to float on the ASX over the next 12 months, in a turnaround that sees the listings market reach a new peak.
Among the companies expected to list are television giant Nine Entertainment ($3 billion), credit alert company Veda ($1 billion), retailer Dick Smith Electronics ($600 million) and foreign exchange firm OzForex ($580 million).
“Conditions are very conducive, but I think some sectors will be easier than others,” the head of equity capital markets at UBS, Simon Cox, told The Australian.
From farce to fiasco: BlackBerry reports nearly $1 billion in losses, 4500 jobs to go
Embattled smartphone giant BlackBerry has confirmed cuts to one-third of its global workforce, with the company warning it now expects quarterly losses of between $950 million and $995 million.
“The company has sailed off a cliff. What do you expect when you announce you’re up for sale? Who wants to commit to a platform that could possibly be shut down?” BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis told Reuters.
Making matters worse, a planned rollout of the company’s BlackBerry Messenger application for Apple iOS and Android devices was halted, with the company citing a leaked version of its Android app as causing the delay.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.19% to 15451.09. The Aussie dollar is down to US93.79 cents.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
