TBC Corporation Makes Safe Passage to SAP

May 23, 2006

Leading Marketer of Tires for the Automotive Replacement Market Turns to SAP to Increase Growth, Reduce Costs and Manage Retail, Wholesale and Franchisee Lines of Business

CHICAGO - - As the leader in retail business software, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that TBC Corporation (TBC), the largest vertically integrated marketer of tires for the automotive replacement market in the United States, joins a growing list of companies that are using the Safe Passage program—a tailored package of applications, technology and incentives—to migrate to SAP. To further drive its competitive edge, TBC chose the SAP® for Retail solution portfolio to enhance visibility across the enterprise and make quicker decisions. The announcement was made at Retail Systems 2006 Conference and Exposition, being held in Chicago, Illinois, May 21-24.

TBC turned to SAP for a clearly defined road map to consolidate its multiple subsidiaries onto one common platform in order to gain better insight into its core business processes and overall operations. After an extensive competitive review process, TBC chose SAP over other retail business solution providers to drive this company-wide transformation and establish a strategic foundation for business efficiency and future growth. TBC will leverage SAP for Retail to increase top-line growth, improve efficiency and manage their retail, wholesale and franchise lines of business.

“We realized that the business processes that we needed to implement were becoming more complex and the technologies that we currently have in place could not support them,” said Larry Day, president and CEO, TBC Corporation. “After a detailed review of the market, we concluded that SAP was the only software vendor with the proven solutions and the expertise to help us transform our organization.”

TBC also selected the SAP NetWeaver® platform to standardize its primary business units. SAP NetWeaver will enable the company to share and consolidate business practices and processes to increase profitability, lower costs and drive innovation. Integrating data and standardizing on the SAP NetWeaver platform will help TBC provide the critical business capabilities necessary to respond to customer demand with agility, innovate quickly and foster efficient supplier and trading relationships—elements that are key to the company’s success.

“We are committed to building a strong relationship to help TBC Corporation realize its strategic objectives and execute on its mission of providing innovative solutions for the automotive replacement market,” said Bill McDermott, president and CEO, SAP Americas. “Customers have a mandate to grow their businesses today. The Safe Passage program provides companies with a proven and affordable road map to protect their current investments and to begin the process of innovating their businesses today.”

About TBC Corporation
TBC Corporation is the nation’s largest vertically integrated marketer of tires for the automotive replacement market. The Company’s retail operations include Company-operated tire and automotive service centers under the “ Tire Kingdom”, “Merchant’s Tire & Auto Centers” and “National Tire & Battery” brands, and franchised stores under the “Big O Tires” brand. TBC markets on a wholesale basis to regional tire chains and distributors serving independent tire dealers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Through its Carroll Tire wholesale distribution centers, the Company also markets directly to independent tire dealers in the eastern and southeastern United States. TBC’s five proprietary brand of private label tires, which include Multi-Mile, Cordovan, Sigma, Vanderbilt, and Big O, are produced by nationally recognized manufacturers and have a reputation for quality, safety, and value. These brands are distributed through TBC Private Brands to wholesalers also throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 2005, TBC Corporation was purchased by Sumitomo Corporation of America (SCOA). SCOA is the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation (SC), one of Japan’s major integrated trading and investment business enterprises. TBC Corporation still functions as an independent company of SCOA providing the same services and products it has for many years, but has ended its 22 year stint as a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ.

About SAP for Retail
SAP for Retail® is a solution portfolio that combines mySAP™ Business Suite solutions with a broad set of integrated retail applications to help companies profitably serve consumer demand across multiple channels. With the acquisitions of Triversity and Khimetrics, SAP’s end-to-end solution now includes enhanced point of sale (POS) and demand intelligence capabilities. Today, more than 3,200 retailers worldwide are SAP customers, more than 470 of which are using merchandising-specific applications from the SAP for Retail solution portfolio. Built on the open architecture of the SAP NetWeaver® platform, SAP for Retail includes core capabilities for financial management, human resources, supplier relationship management and customer relationship management, as well as support for industry-specific merchandise management and planning, store and channel management, demand forecasting, replenishment, sophisticated allocation, workforce management, POS data management and RFID. (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/retail/)


About SAP® Safe Passage
Safe Passage programs from SAP are comprehensive offerings from SAP addressing the concerns of Oracle customers of all sizes facing the uncertainties of the end of life of Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel and Retek solutions. The elements of Safe Passage programs include: access to SAP’s best-in-class enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other market-leading solutions; financial protection for a customer’s existing investment in Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel Systems and Retek; SAP Financing options; immediate integration benefits through the SAP NetWeaver® platform; and migration support services. In addition, third-party maintenance for certain PeopleSoft and JD Edwards solutions is available through SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow and SAP’s network of channel partners focused on small and midsize enterprises. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/safepassage.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 33,200 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

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Evan Welsh

SAP AG

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