Continental profits, sales up in 2012

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Hanover, Germany – Continental Corp. has reported profit of almost Euro 1.9 billion on sales of Euro 32.7 billion in 2012, despite what it called a difficult market environment.

The automotive supplier said it aims to boost sales 5 percent to more than Euro 34 billion in 2013.

In 2012, Continental’s profits improved by more than 50 percent and earnings per share reached Euro 9.42, CEO Dr Elmar Degenhart said in a 7 March news release. He added that the company has cut its net indebtedness by close to Euro 1.5 billion “bringing it down to reasonable level” of Euro 5.3 billion.

Sales grew by 7.3 percent in 2012 to Euro 32.7 billion. Earnings (EBIT) grew by 18.3 percent to almost Euro 3.1 billion and the earnings margin was 9.4 percent, up from 8.5 percent in fiscal 2011.

The company said its positive performance was also reflected in its workforce, which increased by 5852 to a total of 170 000 employees as of the end of 2012.

In 2012, Continental spent more than Euro 1.7 billion on research and development, an increase of 10 percent on the previous year’s figure. Degenhart noted that in the automotive group alone, Continental spent nearly 8 percent of sales on R&D, “allowing us to top the industry average.” The company intends to maintain this level in 2013.

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News release from Continental