AKRON, Ohio — The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has reported net income of $142 million (70 cents per share), the highest quarterly result since the third quarter of 1998, reflecting record net sales and strong operating results in the company’s tire businesses.

The quarterly results were up substantially from the prior-year period, when the company recorded net income of $38 million (20 cents per share).

Record quarterly sales of $5.0 billion were a seven per cent increase from $4.7 billion during the 2004 period. Company officials said the growth in sales reflects improved pricing and product mix in each of the company’s businesses, higher volume in its international tire businesses, and the favourable impact of currency translation.

Third quarter tire unit volume increased to 58.4 million units, compared to 57.4 million units in the 2004 period, a 1.8 per cent gain.

Third quarter total segment operating income increased 21.3 per cent to $330 million.

“All six of our business units achieved third quarter sales records, and all of our tire businesses achieved improvements in segment operating income compared to last year,” said chairman and CEO, Robert J. Keegan.

“This improvement, including a second consecutive $5 billion sales quarter, is further evidence that we are executing to our plan,” he said. “Specifically, we are winning through our strategy of focusing on high margin market segments and bringing higher-margin, differentiated new products to market quickly. Our new-product focus was highlighted during the quarter by the introduction of the Goodyear Fortera featuring TripleTred technology in North America, the Dunlop Wintersport 3D in Europe, and the early European success of the Goodyear UltraGrip 7 winter tire.”

Keegan said the strategy to focus on enhancing the company’s brand and product mix, together with increased pricing, has enabled Goodyear to offset the impact of higher raw material costs, which increased approximately $148 million compared to the third quarter of 2004.