To clarify, there isn’t actually a fixed-period winter tire mandate anymore; instead, the current wording states that winter tires must be used between November 1st and March 31st if weather conditions require it. This is a rather loose phrasing that leaves the responsibility to the driver themselves. Someone might interpret this to mean that winter tires aren’t mandatory at all, and indeed, in the Helsinki metropolitan area, there have already been a couple of winters where winter tires weren’t actually needed for the entire winter.
Your world is small if you don’t leave Helsinki all winter.
In my neck of the woods, studded tires were already rattling under cars at work back in October.
We’ve been wearing down winter tires for a couple of months already.
The climate hasn’t warmed up one bit. I remember “black” Christmases from before… Then I predict that in January it’ll be freezing and there will be snow across the whole country, just like before.
The company’s turnaround seems to be progressing all the time… Look at the P/B = still very undervalued. I see the share price racing toward double digits instead of eight pretty soon.
Same thing in Germany. If there is snow/ice and you have an accident, the insurance company won’t cover it. All-season tires are a sensible direction for Nokian Tyres, considering the Central European markets.
I don’t own the stock, even though I like the company. It’s not a well-known brand in Germany. The partnership with Kimi is a good start, but I still doubt whether all the tires from the Romanian factory will sell—and if so, at what margin. That is, once the factory is running at full capacity.
I don’t have any direct involvement in corporate tire procurement myself, but for example, regarding building materials, it’s quite typical for a construction company to buy them at contract prices roughly 40% lower than the consumer retail price.
I was already about to write about this myself, but I left it out. €2,500 includes VAT. Excluding VAT, the price is €2,000, and depending on the tire market, there are margins for 1-2 companies in between before reaching Nokian Tyres’ factory gate price. What the margin for large tires is, then, is another matter.
This was already dismissed anyway due to the market size. So, it’s a tiny part of the whole.
My experience with heavy vehicle (military) tires was that Nokians were rarely used when tires were replaced; Michelin was almost always the choice. Of course, when new equipment arrived, it almost always came with Nokians.
You would think that at least the Finnish army has some target for domestic content in new equipment, making Nokian tires a good fit, but when old tires had to be replaced, the brand usually changed. Now, it might be that they are acceptable when 5% of GDP needs to be spent on military expenditures; that would be an easy way to increase spending and support domestic production.
Nokian Tyres states on its own website regarding the matter: “At the Nokia factory, all heavy tires are manufactured with the exception of truck and bus tires, which are designed in Finland and manufactured by production partners operating within the EU.”
Yesterday’s Kauppalehti had a good article about companies that pay dividends despite a poor financial situation. Viking Line distributed state aid as dividends and Posti was stretched quite thin; Neste also paid out even though it is investing in Rotterdam and has to take out loans. In the same group was Nokian Tyres, which already has about 700 million in debt but continues to pay out dividends. Leverage increases the risk if something happens and the investment doesn’t yield results. An interesting perspective.
“M.Sc. (Econ.) Timo Koponen has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the Management Team of Nokian Tyres. He will start in his position no later than April 15, 2026, and will report to President and CEO Paolo Pompei.”
You’d think it’s a good sign when you start hearing this kind of speculation in public. In yesterday’s Kauppalehti market panel, Sari Lounasmeri, CEO of the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion (Pörssisäätiö), highlighted Nokian Tyres as a potential turnaround company.
I don’t know how well-versed Lounasmeri is with this particular company, but I’ve believed in it ever since I bought my first Tyres shares a couple of years ago. After the recent rise in the share price, hope is starting to grow that the upward trend will continue. Should I top up more before it really takes off? This is a good place to continue from.
The article is behind a paywall, but it didn’t provide any further details regarding Lounasmeri’s thoughts.
In my opinion:
If you see this as a turnaround case, you’re already (a couple of) years late. When the Russian operations were scrapped and volumes along with them, I think we hit rock bottom, and since then the turnaround has been underway. This turnaround kicked off at the latest when the Romanian factory was completed, and now that turnaround is being worked on.
Looking at recommendations and forecasts, I think the share price has also run away, but I’m not complaining. Let it ride.
In my view, the valuation risk here is quite significant.
I’d venture to say that the real turnaround is still ahead of us and hasn’t been seen yet. Why would the turnaround have happened already, when the company’s operations are only just now properly getting underway? Evidence is needed for this.
The turnaround happens when the market finally trusts the future and dares to price the company according to its true potential—assuming, of course, that the company has made it out of the slump. Regarding Tyres, it seems they have survived the exit, and the key metrics now mostly suggest that the company is very moderately valued, provided it can eventually return to the same sales figures and profit margins as before the war in Ukraine. The market doesn’t want to believe this until it becomes a reality. And that is what is being waited for now. The company must prove that it can deliver and that it has maintained its market position and reputation. That a €2 billion revenue is still achievable. At least I have strong faith in this.
“Nokian Tyres is launching the Nokian Tyres Betula concept tire, which incorporates a new type of raw material made from birch bark. The renewable material, produced by the Swedish company Reselo, utilizes birch bark waste from the global pulp, paper, and plywood industries.”
“From the beginning of the collaboration, the potential of the raw material as a tire material has been obvious. The Nokian Tyres Betula concept tire confirms the raw material’s suitability for tire manufacturing and highlights its potential for commercial use in the future. The raw material is not only sustainable, but according to our tests, it also seems to have the capability to improve tire performance,” says Nokian Tyres’ Innovation and Development Director Teemu Soini.
Good stuff. Sounds like the tire of the future.
However, I won’t start celebrating because of this; unfortunately, even this is business as usual. You have to develop your own product to avoid falling behind the competition.
“Green tires,” where recycled materials or biomaterials are used as raw materials, are not a competitive advantage now or in the future, but rather a market/regulator requirement.
”The reality is, we’re already more than halfway there. A whopping 65%* of the UltraContact NXT are crafted from these eco-friendly materials, and we’re committed to pushing that figure higher. We’re innovating, progressing, and relentlessly pursuing a future where 100% sustainable tyres are the norm, not the exception. This isn’t just the future of tyre manufacturing, it’s the future of our planet.”
In Continental’s words: the green tire will be the norm, not the exception.
Michelin’s goals give them some time, but they too are heading towards “green tires”
”Group is committed to using 40% renewable or recycled materials in its tires by 2030, and 100% by 2050.”
Pirelli has tires in production made from over 70% recycled or plant-based raw materials:
