I’m personally wondering if an option would be to reduce the capacity of the Nokia factory to improve productivity? I mean, once the Romanian plant is churning out tires at a sufficient pace? So even if market share couldn’t be increased, could productivity be improved by shifting production from one location to another?
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Good to see that according to hintaopas.fi, Nokian tires are in high demand 
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However, as far as I know, they are applying for a building permit for a further expansion of the Nokia factory (Nokian Renkaat hakee lisää rakennusoikeutta – Tehdas laajenemassa parkkipaikalle - Nokian Uutiset), so at least any long-term cutbacks are unlikely to be seen. Of course, once they get the Romanian factory running properly, everything available will likely be supplied from there to the Central European markets, and consequently, they might potentially scale back a bit in Nokia; in my opinion, this is what happened when the Russian factory got fully up and running.
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The investor story just keeps getting better 
. Has any timeline trickled out regarding that Nokian Tyres expansion in Nokia?
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Heavy Tyres is closing the Lieksa factory and moving operations to Nokia. Does the expansion concern that? Nokian Tyres invests in Nokia Nokian Renkailta miljoonainvestointi Nokialle - Nokian Uutiset
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- CEO changes at a critical moment. Granted, this has been known to some extent for a while already.
- There are many things that can go wrong with the opening in Romania. Since I don’t know the manufacturing sector that well, it falls into the worst “unknown unknown” category.
- The lead over Chinese tires is narrowing all the time.
- Vianor has been poorly profitable for a long time. Other segments may also experience “off-years” in terms of results due to low profitability. The investment story is perhaps more dependent on Romania than is even realized.
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I don’t really believe there will be problems with the ramp-up of the Romanian factory because the company has recent experience with factory ramp-ups; the Dayton factory in the US was just completed, and I believe maximum production was reached by the end of the year.
It’s true that a lot hinges on the Romanian factory, but a new modern factory also provides a competitive advantage to some extent, e.g., the new faster machines churn out more tires in less time.
Management turnover is a risk as in all listed companies, so I wouldn’t rank it as the top risk.
Thanks, good challenge, it’s nice to have this kind of discussion
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In my opinion, the absolutely most important thing is gaining sufficient market share and bringing capacity utilization to a highly profitable level. Competition is certainly tough, and hopefully Nokian Tyres will take its share of the market.
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The new CEO definitely has the expertise and experience! “I am very pleased that Paolo Pompei will start leading Nokian Tyres,“ says Jukka Hienonen, Chairman of the Board of Nokian Tyres. “Paolo Pompei has very strong international experience in the tire industry, and in his previous roles, he has delivered continuous growth and strong financial results. He also has a deep understanding of the Central European and North American markets, which are key growth markets for Nokian Tyres. Paolo Pompei has the experience and expertise to lead Nokian Tyres in its next development phase toward net sales of two billion euros.”
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What does the forum think about Tyres’ indebtedness and, consequently, the company’s ability to pay dividends in the coming years?
I’ve been keeping an eye on Tyres, but I haven’t dared to buy any shares yet…
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In my opinion, the payout ratio is completely unhealthy and requires strategic success (Romania) for the dividend to be sustainable. It probably wouldn’t even be wise to distribute the full dividend at the moment, but when in Rome 
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Companies tend to get more indebted when expanding operations, and since the gearing ratio is “only” 64%, I’m not worried. Interest rates are also falling, but regardless, I would focus a bit more on debt repayment than on dividend payments.
I already have some; I’m down 5% based on my average price, but I’ve received a few dividends.
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I took a look at the North American pages and indeed, most of the tires are some Hakkapeliittas, a name locals can’t even pronounce and whose history brings no market advantage in that part of the world.
Furthermore, the pages are like a glass of lukewarm milk; after browsing a bit, you get the impression that their understanding of the North American market is quite adrift compared to the competitors’ offerings.
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BF Goodrich is probably the most American tire brand there is.
I don’t see the site as being any more sales-oriented than Tyres’ site.
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I would invest in digital advertising these days. Based on what I’ve heard from entrepreneur acquaintances, platforms like Facebook, Google, etc., are the most effective marketing platforms today. I can’t say for sure exactly what’s most effective, but the world is developing at a breakneck speed and you have to keep up—staying “on the pulse,” so to speak. This means pushing digital advertising through every possible channel to increase awareness. It’s surely expensive, but Nokian Tyres won’t become a household name otherwise. It wouldn’t always need constant advertising, but rather focus on increasing awareness in new markets or where it’s less known; a Nokian tire won’t end up under a consumer’s car if they’ve never even heard of it.
A fair amount should be invested in marketing the “new” Nokian Tyres at this stage to boost recognition. When a new customer on a new continent, or anywhere it’s less known, notices the tire is good, they will surely recommend it and brag to their friends about how great the tires they bought are 
The current form of Tyres is a bit different than before and, in my opinion, a better overall entity. With a wide product range, awareness grows somewhat on its own when there are options like heavy machinery and other larger specialty tires, which naturally increases recognition and improves visibility, leading to higher total sales.
These are exciting times, and I have a good gut feeling about the reborn Nokian Tyres. There’s plenty of experience there, and they aren’t starting the business from zero. The old brand provides a head start, but you shouldn’t rely on it too much; nonetheless, it holds great value in this type of business.
Consider a transport company, for example: I’d guess they would rather trust a well-known brand that is famous for its durability. If the alternative were some less-known “budget” tire, they wouldn’t put crappy tires on their vehicles. Reliability in transport is valuable, and tires are the wrong place to cut costs. If a tire failed due to poor quality, it would certainly be the last time they used that “budget” tire. What I’m trying to say is that an established brand has great value in many ways since customers trust what they know. Here in the Nordics, it’s a given that Nokians are always among the TOP 3 tires, but that same level of recognition needs to be achieved in other market areas as well.
(There might be typos as writing isn’t my strongest suit, but hopefully you can make sense of it )
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One must keep in mind, however, that new factories take time before everything is optimized and full production capacity is realized. It can certainly take a couple of years, but I am confident about the future and the success of Nokian Tyres; of course, there will always be some bumps in the road, but they are meant to be solved.
And as a general observation from someone who has worked in the automotive industry and sold tires, quality really matters when it comes to winter tires, whereas with summer tires, it is often enough that they are “black and round”—meaning customers don’t care much about the brand, at least on a general level and with cheap tires. Winter tires are what people invest in almost without exception, and that is precisely Nokian Tyres’ flagship product.
Have a great weekend, TYRES investors and of course everyone else
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I agree that commissioning a new factory takes a moment to get the settings right and the skills of new employees up to par. What might significantly speed things up here is that the Romanians are likely undergoing training in Nokia on similar machines, and I imagine supervisors from Nokia will initially be at the new factory to provide guidance.
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Although there has probably been enough debate about shorters in this thread already, let’s post the current situation again. It looks like the positions have grown a tiny bit in percentage terms; it’s worth noting that shorts under 0.5% are not shown here. Looking at the entry prices of those positions, it somehow seems that some of them must be so-called hedging positions in case the price decline continues—meaning the players are also long but want to protect their investment: shortnordic.com - updated short positions
From here, you can see how the positions have changed; updates are posted after 10:00 and 17:00: Voimassa olevat lyhyet positiot - Lyhyiden positioiden ilmoittaminen - www.finanssivalvonta.fi
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Marshall Wace, a British hedge fund, took a position. 
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