Boulder City, Colorado — Amerityre, which makes polyurethane tyres for industrial applications, experienced unchanged sales in 2018, but saw operating profit fall by 7.2%.
In 2017, the firm had sales of $3.63 m, in 2018 this was $3.62 m, a 0.2% decrease. Gross profit in 2018 fell to $1.1 m from $1.8 m in 2017.
After research and development; sales and marketing; general administrative; other expenses; and, a loss on assets were taken into account; the company made a net loss of $2m in 2018. This compares with a net profit of $10m in 2017.
Flat sales 'were in line with expectations. We anticipated that agricultural tyre and industrial tyre markets would remain weak,' the firm said in a filing with the US SEC.
The company said that its light duty polyurethane foam tire segment saw increased demand for golf cart and baggage cart tyres.
In its Polyurethane Elastomers Industrial Tire segment, acceptance of its forklift tyres is 'slower than expected' and there is 'limited interest' in its scissor-lift tyres. OEMs are not adopting or endorsing Amerityre products in these sectors because of the good economics of rubber tyres. Dealers will not switch to PU tyres in this area unless OEMs endorse them. This is despite Amerityre's claims of 'better economics with our tyre for the end user'.
The company added that this segment 'contributed negligible revenue during 2018'.
Agricultural tyre sales were hit by low farm commodity prices. These limit farmers' ability to invest in new or replacement equipment. 'We are expecting continued difficult conditions for our sales until we see a substantial evidence of a turnaround,' said the company.
