Quarterlytics / Consumer Cyclical / Industrial Materials / Cooper Tire & Rubber

Cooper Tire & Rubber

ctb · NYSE Consumer Cyclical
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Ticker ctb
Exchange NYSE
Sector Consumer Cyclical
Industry Industrial Materials
Employees 10,000+
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FY2019 Annual Report · Cooper Tire & Rubber
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2019 ANNUAL REPORT

2019 ANNUAL REPORT

OUR PURPOSE

Everyone deserves to travel through life’s journeys 
with confidence, and Cooper is there at every turn.

OUR MISSION

AS A GLOBAL COMPANY,  

WE BRING GREAT PEOPLE  

AND OUTSTANDING PARTNERS  

TOGETHER TO DELIVER  

WINNING PRODUCTS TO EVERY MARKET 

WHERE WE COMPETE, CREATING VALUE  

FOR ALL OUR STAKEHOLDERS.

OUR VALUES — THE COOPER WAY

·  Help each other succeed

·  Have engaged communication

·  Be agile

·  Provide world class service

·  Be results focused

·  Do the right thing

• OUR VALUES •• OUR VALUES •• OUR VALUES •BE RESULTSFOCUSEDPROVIDEWORLD CLASSSERVICEBE AGILEHAVE ENGAGEDCOMMUNICATIONHELP EACHOTHER SUCCEEDDO THERIGHTTHINGTHECOOPERWAYMarch 26,2020

To our stockholders:

At Cooper, every day we make an impact. Because every day, we make great tires that take off-road excursions, trips to school, 
long-haul shipping runs and family vacations. Tires that connect the whole world. That’s why we recently introduced our Purpose 
statement. It’s a simple way to think about the impact we have every day. It’s our reason for being.

Our Mission helps us achieve that Purpose. And what surrounds them both? It’s our Values: The Cooper Way.

Our Purpose. Our Mission. And the Cooper Way. They are enduring and directly connected to our business strategy, which helps 
Cooper compete in the global tire industry, continuing to make an impact on our business and the world.

2019: A Year of Progress

Cooper responded well to challenging conditions, delivering improved operating profit, operating profit margin and operating cash 
flows in 2019. Operating profit was $174 million, or 6.3 percent of sales, with operating profit margin improving throughout 
the year from 4.3 percent in the first quarter to 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Additionally, operating cash flow improved 
by $33 million, which helped fund our strategic initiatives. All of this was achieved despite headwinds from net new tariffs and 
restructuring costs.   

Even more importantly, we continued to make significant progress on the strategic initiatives we outlined in May 2018 at our 
Investor Day including:

Expanding  our  retail  presence:  The  goal  of  this  key 
initiative  is  to  make  Cooper  products  available  at  a 
greater number of retail points where consumers want 
to  shop  for  tires.  This  effort  is  progressing  extremely 
well. In the U.S., we have added thousands of additional 
points  of  sale  over  the  last  18  months,  and  we  will 
continue to find ways to provide consumers with easier 
access to our brands and products. We have added or 
expanded business with key national and independent 
retailers. In fact, Cooper tires are now available in the 
top  five  tire  retailers  in  the  U.S.  In  addition,  we  have 
also seen strong growth on e-commerce platforms.

Improving mix: In our reported results for full year 2019, 
mix significantly contributed to our profit improvement, 
supported  by  the  continued  consumer  transition  to 
larger  rim  diameter  tires.  Cooper  has  enhanced  our 
capabilities to deliver these high value-add products.

Securing strategic Original Equipment (OE) fitments: 
We  talked  at  our  Investor  Day  about  selectively 
pursuing  strategic  OE  tire  fitments,  and  have  since 
announced  multiple  fitments  with  luxury  auto  brand, 
Mercedes-Benz.

Expanding  our  Truck  and  Bus  Radial  (TBR)  tire 
business: Another key strategy reviewed at our Investor 
Day was the expansion of our TBR tire business driven 
by the planned introduction of a Cooper TBR tire lineup 
to augment our Roadmaster brand. This Cooper brand 
launched  and  immediately  got  off  to  a  strong  start. 
In  fact,  today  Cooper  brand  TBR  tires  are  standard 
original  equipment  on  Blue  Bird  school  buses,  which 
transport children to and from school every day across 
North America. 

Strengthening  our  global  manufacturing  footprint:    In 
2018,  we  described  how  Cooper  was  evaluating  and 
enhancing  our  global  manufacturing  footprint  to  have 
the  right  technology  and  capabilities,  with  the  right 
production  capacity  in  the  right  locations,  while  also 
enhancing  the  competitiveness  of  our  cost  structure. 
Following  this  evaluation,  we  ceased  light  vehicle 
tire  production  at  our  high-cost  Melksham,  England 
plant  and  transitioned  production  of  these  tires  to 
other,  lower-cost  facilities  in  our  network.  In  Asia,  we 
launched  a  joint  venture  TBR  tire  plant  in  Vietnam. 
Finally,  in  Latin  America,  we  recently  bought  out  our 
joint venture partner in Mexico to take full ownership to 
better leverage that low-cost facility.

Accelerating  the  cadence  of  compelling  new  product 
launches:    At  our  Investor  Day,  we  noted  that 
Cooper  planned  to  increase  the  pace  of  new  product 
introductions to assure that we continually have fresh, 
compelling new products hitting the market, especially 
in key segments. We’ve been delivering on this promise 
with new product launches such as the Discoverer AT3, 
Starfire Solarus, and Discoverer EnduraMax.

Improving cost competitiveness and cash management: 
Through the strong work of our team, we have achieved 
significant working capital improvements. Cooper also 

refinanced  our  2019  senior  notes,  providing  further 
financial flexibility as well as interest rate savings that 
we will begin to see in 2020.

Building  out  a  digital  marketing  capability  and 
enhancing  brand  awareness:    Cooper  has  developed 
a  digital  marketing  capability  with  a  dedicated  team 
focused  on  leveraging  digital  to  drive  our  business. 
In  addition,  we  have  continued  to  invest  in  consumer 
brand awareness efforts and launched a new campaign 
including  television,  digital  and  print  advertising 
featuring our new Uncle Cooper spokesperson.

We are proud of our teams around the globe, who have aligned around our strategic plan and have worked extremely hard to make 
such substantial progress on our key initiatives even in the face of formidable challenges.

In addition to the efforts detailed above, we also made great strides on improving critical capabilities. For example, since our 
Investor Day in 2018, we strengthened our leadership team with multiple key management appointments including new leaders 
for our global technical and finance organizations as well as a new leader of our Asia operations. Cooper also made important 
additions to our board of directors to support the Board refreshment process.

It is important to note that Cooper also made headway on our diversity and inclusion efforts, earning a 100 percent score on the 
Corporate Equality Index and receiving recognition from two different organizations for the representation of females on our board 
of directors. We continue to focus on these efforts as well as sustainability initiatives and are proud to be one of the founding 
members of the Tire Industry Project and Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber. These global initiatives, led by major 
global tire manufacturing companies, are focused on developing solutions for a sustainable tire industry.

This is an exciting time at Cooper as our strategic initiatives continue to lead a positive transformation of our company. We have 
positive momentum and will build upon what we have achieved in 2019 with the anticipation that our efforts will continue to 
impact on our financial results in 2020 and beyond.

Our people are at the center of Cooper’s growth efforts and we value their hard work and contributions as well as the loyalty of 
our customers. We are excited about the future and thank you, our stockholders, for your support.

Bradley E. Hughes
President & Chief Executive Officer

Thomas P. Capo
Chairman

STOCKHOLDER INFORMATION

Executive Offices

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
701 Lima Avenue
Findlay, OH  45840
419-423-1321

For Information
Tire Products  
Investor Relations 
Website    

Annual Meeting

800-854-6288
419-424-4165
www.coopertire.com

The 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Cooper 
Tire & Rubber Company will be held on Friday, May 
8, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 
2020  Annual  Meeting  will  be  a  “virtual”  meeting. 
All stockholders are cordially invited to participate. 
Proxy  material  was  sent  or  made  available  to 
stockholders. 

Transfer Agent & Registrar

Computershare Inc.
PO Box 30170
College Station, TX 77842-3170

888-294-8217 (toll free)
24 hours automated or Mon. - Fri.  
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Central Time)
www.computershare.com/investor
https://www-us.computershare.com/investor/contact

Stockholders  requiring  a  change  of  name,  address 
or ownership of shares, as well as information about 
stockholder  records,  lost  or  stolen  certificates, 
dividend  checks,  dividend  direct  deposit  and 
dividend  reinvestment  should  contact  our  transfer 
agent by mail, by telephone or through its website. 

Filing Certifications

The Company has filed the certification required by 
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as 
an exhibit to its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending 
December  31,  2019,  filed  with  the  Securities  and 
Exchange  Commission.  On  May  16,  2019,  the 
Company filed with the New York Stock Exchange its 
Annual CEO Certification.

Direct Investment Plan

serves 

Investor  Services 

Computershare 
as 
Administrator  for  a  direct  investment  plan  for  the 
purchase,  sale  and/or  dividend  reinvestment  of 
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company common stock. For 
information, call Computershare Investor Services at 
888-294-8217.

Board of Directors

Executive Officers

Bradley E. Hughes
President & Chief Executive Officer  

Christopher J. Eperjesy
Senior Vice President &  
Chief Financial Officer

Stephen Zamansky
Senior Vice President,  
General Counsel & Secretary

Other Corporate Officers

Gerald C. Bialek
Vice President & Treasurer

Philip F. Kortokrax
Senior Vice President

Jack J. McCracken
Vice President,  
Assistant General Counsel  
& Assistant Secretary

Thomas P. Capo 1
Non-Executive Chairman of the Board,  
Former Chairman of the Board
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc.

Steven M. Chapman 1, 3
Group Vice President, China and Russia  
Cummins, Inc.

Susan F. Davis 3
Former Executive Vice President,  
Asia-Pacific Region  
Johnson Controls

Kathryn P. Dickson 2
President, Manitoba Harvest,  
a subsidiary of Tilray, Inc.

John J. Holland 2
President
Greentree Advisors LLC

Bradley E. Hughes
President & Chief Executive Officer  
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company

Tracey I. Joubert 2
Chief Financial Officer
Molson Coors Brewing Company

Gary S. Michel 1, 2
President and Chief Executive Officer
JELD-WEN Holding, Inc.

Brian C. Walker 1, 3
Former President and  
Chief Executive Officer  
Herman Miller, Inc.

Robert D. Welding 3
Former Non-Executive Chairman  
Public Safety Equipment (Int’l) Limited

1  Member of the Nominating and  

 Governance Committee

2  Member of the Audit Committee
3  Member of the Compensation Committee

COOPER TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY
701 Lima Avenue, Findlay, Ohio 45840
www.coopertire.com