Dunlop plans return to Nigeria

Nearly after over eight years of leaving the economy on grounds of harsh business environment, global conglomerate in car tyre, DN Tyre and Rubber Plc (formerly known as Dunlop Nigeria Plc) is set to return to the economy in partnership with Edo State government.

It would be recalled that the collapse of the company started from Federal Government’s in 2005 when DN Tyre spent $50 million on a truck tyre project, but the business plan collapsed a year later in 2006 when the Federal Government reduced the tariff on imported tyres from 40% to 10%.

This coupled with poor power supply led to the company shutting down operations in 2008. In a bid to pay off N8 billion in loans, the firm in 2012, decided to sell several assets. The transaction was eventually completed in 2014.

Already, discussion is ongoing with state authorities on modus operandi of re-entering the economy with a 10-year strategic business plan.

The company is following the re-entry plan in two fronts; one marketing the business plan to potential investors and seeking potential technical partners.

Besides, in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dunlop explained that a state government is setting up an industrial park, with provision for an automobile cluster and tyre manufacturing plant.

National Daily recalls that the company’s stock was last traded in October 2018 and has been labelled Delisting In Progress (DIP) by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Whereas several industry pundits have been kicking against the negative impacts of the prevailing National Auto Policy which is shrinking investments in both local content and imports, Dunlop Nigeria is confident that the emerging auto policy is likely to favour key players including Dunlop.

Experts say one of the key factors encouraging the return of the company include the retaining of majority holding in Pamol Nigeria Limited, its subsidiary which manages rubber plantations even when it relaxed production some years ago.