Continental production in Frankfurt
In the past year, the automotive supplier booked 3.3 billion euros in additional costs for energy, logistics and materials.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
The automotive supplier Continental has surprisingly increased its operating profit despite massive cost increases. With sales growing by almost 17 percent to 39.4 billion euros, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed by a good five percent to 2.0 billion euros, as the group announced on Wednesday in Hanover.
Continental wants to reduce the dividend by 70 cents to 1.50 euros per share because net profit has collapsed to 67 million euros due to various special effects. In the previous year, Continental reported a net profit of 1.4 billion euros.
Nevertheless, Conti drew a positive balance. “We achieved our sales and earnings forecast at group level and thus achieved a respectable result,” explained CEO Nikolai Setzer.
For the current year, Continental is forecasting consolidated sales of between EUR 42 and 45 billion and an adjusted return of between 5.5 and 6.5 percent. In 2022, the margin had fallen by half a percentage point to five percent, also because the additional costs for energy, logistics and material had accumulated to 3.3 billion euros. In the current year, the management estimates these costs at around 1.7 billion euros.
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