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PARIS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest tyre maker Michelin posted a dip in third-quarter sales on Wednesday, due to high raw material costs and a strong euro, and it forecast a slight fall in full-year operating margin.
Clermont-Ferrand-based Michelin said sales fell to 3.801 billion euros compared to 3.865 billion euros in the year-ago period. That meant nine-month sales fell 4.6 percent to 11.149 billion euros ($13 billion).
The company said its 2003 operating margin would be slightly below last year's level of 7.8 percent, excluding the impact of acquisitions. This would be partly because of a $350 million increase in operating expenses.
Michelin had previously given no firm forecasts for 2003 other than to say that it aimed to boost performance. It has predicted an unchanged tyre market with a risk of decline and bet that raw materials prices would remain high.
The stock, which has lagged the European Dow Jones Stoxx Autos index by some nine percent this year, closed down 1.31 percent at 34.00 euros on Tuesday.
Sales in terms of volume rose 2.6 percent in the third quarter but this was erased by a strong euro, with exchange rate fluctuations hitting revenues to the tune of 6.2 percent.
Michelin said that although passenger car and light truck tyre replacement markets had continued to post strong growth in Europe in the first nine months of the year, it remained below last year's level in North America.
Passenger car and light truck original equipment markets are down in both regions in this period as carmakers struggling with waning demand scale back production, while truck tyre markets are slightly up, the France-based company said.