Nikolai Setzer
The Continental Supervisory Board recently extended the 52-year-old’s contract by a further five years.
(Photo: dpa)
Continental has no signs of an imminent wave of bankruptcies in the supplier industry. “If we look at our supplier portfolio, we cannot see that there is an increased risk of insolvency,” said CEO Nikolai Setzer on Wednesday evening at the Hamburg Business Journalists’ Club. One does not see any increased trend towards insolvency on the market either. The Dax group looks at the situation very closely.
The Württemberg car supplier Allgaier has just slipped into insolvency, the Franconian cable specialist Leoni recently avoided bankruptcy.
Last year, the shortage of semiconductors meant that car manufacturers’ margins developed positively, while this was obviously not the case for suppliers. However, the system of manufacturers and suppliers can only work if the costs are not only borne by one side.
In the past year, Continental has succeeded in passing on the increased costs, for example for the procurement of scarce electronic components, to customers through higher prices. “We also assume that we can do it this year,” said Setzer. The trend in the supplier industry shows that this is more difficult in the first half of the year than in the second half.
Last year, additional costs of 3.3 billion euros for energy, logistics and materials had a negative impact on returns. In the current year, the Conti management estimates these costs at 1.7 billion euros. This year, the third largest German supplier in terms of sales is aiming for a margin of between 5.5 and 6.5 (2022: 5.0) percent, in the core automotive business it should be two to three percent. The group recently confirmed its medium-term return target.
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