In the past fiscal year, Germany-based automotive supplier Continental again exceeded its targets and despite slumping automotive markets in Europe, the firm boosted its 2012 sales by more than 7% to approximately EUR32.7 billion.
At around 10.7%, the adjusted EBIT margin topped the previous year’s figure of 10.1%. “Although indicators on the auto markets are more guarded at present than they were a year ago, we are aiming for sales growth of around 5% to more than EUR34 billion in 2013. The adjusted EBIT margin is expected to remain above 10%,” said Dr. Elmar Degenhart, Chairman of the Executive Board of Continental, in a disclosure of initial preliminary key figures.
“In 2013, we expect global production of passenger cars with a gross weight of up to six tons to increase from around 80 million units in 2012 to a mere 82 million. There is, however, still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the course of passenger car production and other of Continental’s key sales markets,” commented Degenhart, adding: “We shall very likely not quite be able to hold to our tempo in the successful year 2012. To be sure, we already came very close to meeting many of our medium-term financial targets in 2012. In any event, we shall further reduce our indebtedness in the current year.”
The firm will present preliminary business figures at its Annual Press Conference in Frankfurt/Main on 7 March 2013.(RJA)
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