Fitch affirms Goodyear

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s issuer default rating at B+, its secured credit facility and secured second-lien term loan at BB+/RR1, its senior debt rating at B/RR5 and Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe BV's secured credit facility rating at BB+/RR1.

The agency also assigned a B+ issuer default rating to Goodyear Dunlop.

The outlook is stable.

Fitch said Goodyear's ratings reflect the tire manufacturer's relatively strong competitive position in the global replacement and original equipment tire segments and improvement in its end-markets, set against a relatively high debt load, weak free cash flow generation and substantial underfunded pension obligations.

The total debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 3.4x at the end of 2010 from 5.3x a year prior. The agency noted that the improvement was driven entirely by increased EBITDA, as total debt rose to $4.8 billion from $4.5 billion at the end of 2009.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.