Apollo Tyres Ltd was founded in 1976. Its first plant was commissioned in Perambra, Kerala and the company now has four manufacturing units, one in South Africa, two in Zimbabwe and one in Netherlands. It has a network of over 4,000 dealerships in India, of which over 2,500 are exclusive outlets and has plans to feature among the Top 10 tyre manufacturers in the world by 2016.
They are on track to achieve their goal as for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Apollo Tyres Ltd, reported a profit of Rs 228 crores on the net sales of Rs 3235 crores. Apollo Tyres’ Indian Operations registered 6% increase in revenue in the first quarter, while European Operations, continuing its good performance, registered an increase of 18% in revenues in Q1 FY15, as compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on the results, Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Ltd said, “Increased vehicle sales in the past quarter across geographies, and especially in India, along with a better product and market mix, helped us report good numbers in the past quarter.”
In the absence of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman of the company, Neeraj Kanwar, read out the Chairman’s speech at their 41st Annual General Meet in Kochi, Kerala. He said, “The company has decided to shape its own destiny, rather than remain hostage to the vagaries of the markets, business cycles and raw material costs. Apolla has realised that operations on a global scale gives us the leverage to manage increasingly consolidated customers on the one hand, and ever-larger suppliers on the other.”
He further added, “We have made the decision to go ahead with a new Greenfield plant in Eastern Europe, expand the capacity at our Chennai plant and re-jig the product mix of our facility here in Kalamassery. As we proactively address today’s challenges, we continue to follow our past strategy. – Expand. -Add new products for our customers. Broaden revenue base by increasing our footprint in new geographies. And, of course, recruit and nurture local talent. Our sales offices in Dubai, Thailand and Brazil have led our thrust into new markets, building our brands and establishing distribution networks for a greatly enhanced consumer experience, and our network partners also start realising the benefits of working closely with Apollo.”