Continental shows 'strength' in fiscal 2013
ERJ staff report (TP)
Hanover / Frankfurt, Germany – Continental released its 2013 figures on 6 March which showed profits of more than €1.9bn and revealed its expectations for 2014.
The company said it had “demonstrated strength and again significantly increased its room to manoeuvre in 2013. It managed to do so despite a weak European automotive markets and negative exchange rate effects of a considerable magnitude.
“In 2014 [Continental] expects markets to develop positively in North America and Asia, as in the previous year. Expansion of business is planned for China in particular. What is even more, Continental intends to use the agreed purchase of the plastic and rubber specialist Veyance Technologies, Inc. to bolster its non-automotive industrial business.”
CEO Dr Elmar Degenhart said: “In 2013 we achieved very good results and continued to pursue our goals reliably, rigorously, and efficiently. Looking back, we achieved more than anticipated overall.
“Overall, we are confident as regards the outlook for fiscal 2014. We expect the market for passenger cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles to rise by two percent. We have therefore set ourselves the goal of growing by five percent and thus increasing total sales to around €35bn.
“We again anticipate substantial negative exchange rate effects, which, however, should not hurt our profit margin.”
Summary of the press release:
Profit amounts to more than €1.9bn / dividend proposal of €2.50 per share
Free cash flow of €1.8bn / net indebtedness lowered by €1bn
Sales rise to €33.3bn despite negative exchange rate effects of over €800m
Adjusted EBIT of €3.7bn / adjusted EBIT margin of 11.3 percent
Outlook for 2014: sales to grow five percent to around €35bn
Good start in 2014: sales and adjusted EBIT up year-on-year in first quarter
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More details in the press release from Continental
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