Goodyear reports $73m losses for Q2

Goodyear Tire & Rubber has lost more than $73m (€64.2m) in the second quarter as raw material costs and one-time charges took a toll on results, the company has said.

Sales rose 8% to $3.8bn (€3.34bn), helped by currency effects and a shifting product mix.

In late morning trading, its shares gained nearly 10% to $5.68, backing off from a session high of $6.05.

Goodyear said it lost $73.6m (€64.75m), or 42 cents a share. Those results include a one-time charge of $20.4m (€17.97m), or 12 cents, for restructuring and asset sales. Costs for raw materials were $124m (€109m) higher than in 2002's second quarter.

Last year, Goodyear earned $28m (€24.6m), or 18 cents a share, with revenue of $3.5bn (€3.07bn).

Not counting the one-time items, the company lost 30 cents a share for the latest quarter, wider than Wall Street's consensus estimated loss of 23 cents a share.

The estimates spanned the range of a loss of 8 to 50 cents a share, according Reuters Research's survey of eight analysts.

The company said that it did manage to increase market share with the Goodyear brand.

European tire volume and revenue, helped by the stronger euro, rose to help produce a quarterly profit of $39.6m (€34.8m).