TUPELO — A northeast Mississippi tire plant that was damaged by an April tornado is expected to restart production in June.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said this week that it was likely to take several months for its Cooper Tire plant in Tupelo to resume full production after the restart.
The Akron, Ohio, company said in a filing to investors that sales are likely to fall $110 million to $130 million in the second quarter because of the Tupelo plant’s shutdown and restart. The operating income will likely fall $60 million to $80 million in the same April-to-June period. That’s in part because Cooper has continued to pay its 1,700 workers since the shutdown.
The company said that insurance will repay at least some of the property damage and lost business after Goodyear pays the first $15 million in losses. Goodyear said a “significant portion” of the lost business would be repaid by insurance, but payments aren’t reflected in its projections of lost sales and income.
