Little by little, new corporate details of important groups in the mobility sector are being known, where it is confirmed that the sector is recovering after a few very complicated years and is returning to the usual state before the pandemic. This is the case of the Michelin Group that has reported that during the first half of the year they increased their sales by 18.7% and the operating result of the sectors increased by 7.7% to 1,500 million euros.
At a time as complicated as the current one where the paralysis of the manufacture of microchips and the war in Ukraine made raw materials more expensive, Michelin managed to invoice up to 13,289 million euros in product sales. This caused tire sales volumes to fall 2.2%; excluding sales in Eastern Europe and China, where they have remained stable. The tyre mix-price effect was 13.9%, reflecting the Group’s determination to offset cost inflation.
Despite the crisis, price management ensured coverage of all the factors that have led to inflation and the maintenance of margins. The operating result progresses in each of the reporting segments. With 11.5% of sales, operating margin suffered a decrease of 1.2 points linked to price increases to offset inflation.
The president of the Michelin group, Florent Menegaux, has acknowledged that he is happy with how the first half of the year has ended, where he had losses of 202 million euros caused by the suspension of activity in Russia: “Our results are good in a very chaotic environment, thanks to the remarkable commitment of all the Group’s employees. The uncertainties of today’s world make it difficult to formulate medium-term prospects. That said, we can count on our strategy: clear and value creator, with our resilient business model and with the agility of our teams to manage our operations in very demanding conditions.”
In this scenario and excluding the development of new systemic effects, Michelin maintains its trend for 2022, with a operating result of the sectors exceeding 3,200 million euros at constant exchange rates and a structural free cash flow of more than €1.2 billion.
