Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s loss widened in the fourth quarter as the company’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa continued to lag.
The Akron, Ohio-based tire-maker posted a loss of $291 million, or $1.02 a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $104 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a per-share profit of 28 cents.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings came to 47 cents, ahead of the 36 cents forecast by analysts, according to FactSet.
Revenue fell 4.8%, to $5.12 billion, missing the $5.38 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. The drop in sales was largely due to lower replacement volumes and weaker third-party chemical sales.
The company said in an investor letter that its loss widened due to a goodwill impairment charge related to its EMEA business. Goodyear also saw higher rationalization charges.
Tire volumes were down about 3.8%, while global replacement volumes fell 6.7%, partially driven by continued weak trends in EMEA.
Goodyear expects global unit volumes to be down 2% in the first quarter. The company is forecasting a $15 million impact on segment operating income from a fire at its Debica, Poland, operations.