Conti reports strong growth for tires, ContiTech hit by weak industrial demand

Hanover, Germany – Continental AG has reported a strong first quarter in its Tires group sector, while industrial and materials arm ContiTech was hit by weak industrial demand.

For the three months ended 31 March, the Tires division reported a 3.7% year-on-year increase in sales to €3.4 billion, while adjusted operating result (EBIT) grew 11.7% to €457 million.

The gains were primarily due to “a good start to the year” in the replacement-tire business across all regions, said Continental 6 April.

Meanwhile, ContiTech reported lower sales and earnings in “a challenging market environment characterised by weak industrial demand, especially in Europe.”

The group sector posted sales of €1.5 billion in the first quarter, down 6.7% compared to the year before.

Adjusted operating result fell by 6.8% to €82 million, with the earnings margin remaining on par with the previous year at 5.4%.

Continental said it expects ContiTech earnings to improve in the course of the year due to the measures taken to reduce costs and an anticipated increase in industrial demand in the second half of 2025.

For the full year, the Tires group sector is expected to generate sales of €13.5 billion to €14.5 billion, compared to €13.8 billion reported last year. Adjusted EBIT margin for the sector is estimated at around 13.3% to 14.3%.

Continental anticipates sales in the ContiTech group sector to come in at €6.3 billion to €6.8 billion, broadly matching the €6.4 billion reported last year, and an adjusted EBIT margin of around 6.0% to 7.0%.

“We made a solid start to the year, significantly improving our earnings... and are confident that we will achieve our annual targets,” said Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer.