(Reuters) -Finnish tyre maker Nokian reported a much wider than expected operating loss for the first quarter on Tuesday, citing global uncertainty triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Nokian’s shares, which were flat before the report was published at midday local time, fell more than 13% in early afternoon trade in Helsinki.
Tyre makers and other car part suppliers have struggled with market uncertainty amid Trump’s unpredictable tariff decisions that have led to confusion in the sector.
Trump announced at the beginning of April that he would impose a duty of up to 25% on vehicles imported into the Unites States, but agreed later in the month to soften that impact.
Automakers like Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Volvo Cars have already withdrawn their yearly forecasts and warned that the impact of tariffs on production costs and auto prices made it difficult to forecast near-term results.
Nokian Tyres booked a comparable operating loss of 18.5 million euros ($20.94 million) for the first quarter of 2025, while analysts polled by the company had expected a much smaller loss of 4.6 million euros.
Quarterly sales rose 14% to 269.5 million euros, slightly above analysts’ 267.8 million euro estimate. The sales rose in all of Nokian’s business divisions, CEO Paolo Pompei said in a statement.
However, Pompei said that profitability in the quarter was not satisfactory and that Nokian had started a “careful review” of its cost base.
The company still expects its sales to grow in 2025, with demand for tyres expected to remain at last year’s level.
($1 = 0.8835 euros)
(Reporting by Boleslaw Lasocki in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
