Continental
The German automotive supplier brought in significantly less than expected last year.
(Photo: Reuters)
The automotive supplier and tire manufacturer Continental was able to significantly expand its business again last year – but remained under pressure due to high costs. According to preliminary figures, sales increased by around 17 percent to 39.4 billion euros, as the Dax group surprisingly announced on Tuesday evening. However, the margin before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects was expected to be 5.0 percent, 0.6 percentage points below the previous year’s figure. The Hanoverians had warned early on that additional costs for energy, freight and material would run into the billions.
With these values, Continental achieved its revenue and profit targets – but clearly missed the plans for the cash inflow (free cash flow), which is important for investors, because noticeably fewer payments ended up in the group accounts before the reporting date than expected. Continental has not yet provided any information on net earnings, the company will present the detailed annual figures on March 8th
Continental has recently struggled, especially in the automotive supply sector, because global car production has repeatedly stuttered as a result of parts shortages and Chinese Covid lockdowns. The environment improved in the past year, and in the fourth quarter the automotive supplier division was again in the black operationally – but for the year as a whole, slight losses are likely to have been incurred again. The group’s profit maker, the tire business, even did slightly better than expected in 2022 – and thus made up for weaknesses in the margin in the Contitech division’s plastics technology business.
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