The car supplier and tire manufacturer Continental performed better in the third quarter than experts expected. Sales fell by 4 percent to 9.8 billion euros due to weak industrial business and declining car production. The operating result, adjusted for special effects, rose by 36 percent to 873 million euros, also due to the austerity measures.
The group was able to make noticeable gains both in the automotive supply sector, which was burdened by industry weakness and high costs, and in the tire division and achieved better results than analysts expected. The bottom line was that Conti made a profit of 486 million euros, almost 63 percent more than the year before.
“In the challenging year-end spurt, we are aiming to make further progress in our automotive results.” Business with winter tires is also going well, said Conti boss Nikolai Setzer (53).
The ContiTech industrial division, on the other hand, is feeling the effects of companies’ reluctance to invest. Continental is not expecting an upturn in industrial business and is adjusting its forecast for the division accordingly. At 6.2 to 6.6 billion euros, sales at ContiTech will be around 400 million euros lower than previously assumed, and the profit margin will remain 0.7 percentage points below the previously expected range at 5.8 to 6.3 percent. As a result, the sales expectations for the group are reduced to 39.5 to 42 billion euros instead of the previous 40 to 42.5 billion euros.
Continental also referred to the declining car production for the year as a whole. However, the profit margin is expected to remain unchanged at six to seven percent.