Financial Overview

(in billion JPY)

	FY ended Dec. 31, 2013	FY ended Dec. 31, 2012	Rate of change (%)	Factors
Sales	16,519	13,309	24.1	-Sales volumes increased in both the passenger car & light truck tire segment and the truck & bus tire segment.
Operating income	1,564	923	69.4

Contracts

-Firestone-brand Destination LE2 and Destination A/T tires will be original equipment on the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee.

-Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) announced that its Bridgestone Potenza RE050A RFT (run-flat) is original equipment (OE) on the all-new 2013 Cadillac ATS. Bridgestone supplies GM with run-flat tires in size 225/40RF18 88W (front) and 255/35RF18 90W (rear) for fitment on the ATS Premium Collection, the highest level package available on the new ATS. The Potenza RE050A RFT will be produced at BATO's manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina, USA. (From a press release on February 7, 2013)

R&D Facilities

-The Company announced the groundbreaking of its Biorubber Process Research Center, a research and development project in Mesa, Arizona, U.S.A., to investigate the use of the Guayule plant as an alternative natural rubber source. Once completed, the center will be home to a staff of 40 researchers and technicians. The first rubber samples for tire evaluations are expected in mid-2015. Guayule is a perennial shrub native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The plant produces natural rubber in its bark and roots. Natural rubber from Guayule has almost identical qualities to that harvested from the Hevea tree, which currently is the primary source for the natural rubber used in tire production. (From a press release on May 9, 2013)

Capital Investment

-Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations Aiken County, S.C., announced a milestone, as it begins production of an additional 12,750 passenger car radial tires (PSR) and light truck radial tires (LTR) per day. This 346 million USD investment by Bridgestone Americas creates almost 300 full-time jobs in Aiken County. In July of 2011, the company announced the first phase of the PSR/LTR plant's expansion, a 135 million USD investment designed to increase daily capacity by 4,750 tires. A supplemental expansion was announced in September 2011 to increase the plant's tire production by an additional 8,000 tires per day. Together, the two projects have increased the plant's square footage by 740,000 square feet – to 2.42 million square feet – and the result is a rated production capacity of 37,750 tires per day or approximately 13.4 million tires annually. (From a press release on April 1, 2013)