Revenue grew 32.4%, to $253.2 million, the company said.

“Major contributions to our revenue growth came from continued organic growth in the distribution of our major brands – Falken, Dunlop and Continental – as well as increased revenue from our proprietary brands – Sumo Firenza tyres, Sumo Tire and SSW wheels,” said Wee Kok Wah, president of Stamford Tyres. “We have also benefited from the strong growth momentum in Southeast Asia and our aggressive sales and marketing efforts to promote our proprietary brands in the international markets.”

Stamford Tyres reported a gross profit of $72.4 million in 2006, a 41.4% increase from the $51.2 million recorded in 2005.

“Our focus on improving the product mix of our major brands, increasing sales of high performance tyres and wheels, and our continuous effort to improve income through retail chain and commercial truck/earthmover tyres with management services, have all contributed to our profit growth,” said Wee.

The company also announced plans to set up a second wheel manufacturing facility in Thailand to expand capacity. “We will invest approximately $15 million to set up a new aluminum alloy wheel factory on 15,000 sqm of vacant land near our existing factory in Thailand,” said Wee. “This new facility will enable us to increase our current wheel production capacity by 360,000 wheels per year to 720,000 wheels per year. The investment, which consists of $6.0 million for the construction of the factory building and $9.0 million for the purchase of production machinery and equipment, will be funded by external borrowings and internal funds. We expect the plant to take 10 months to complete and operations will begin in the first half of 2008.”