Annual Targets Comfortably Achieved: Continental Continues Its Growth

• Preliminary key data for fiscal 2016 published
• Strong sales and earnings in fourth quarter as expected
• Organic sales growth of around 4.5 percent to around €40.5 billion in 2016
• Adjusted EBIT margin of around 10.7 percent generated
• Incoming orders up again
• Outlook for 2017: Increase in sales of more than 6 percent to over €43 billion

Hanover, January 9, 2017. The international technology company Continental can look back at a successful conclusion to fiscal 2016. With an increase of reported sales of 3 percent year-on-year to around €40.5 billion and an adjusted EBIT margin of around 10.7 percent, the company comfortably achieved its annual targets as adjusted in October 2016. In spite of several isolated circumstances that had a negative impact on earnings in the past fiscal year, net income slightly exceeded the previous year’s level.

As expected, the fourth quarter of the past fiscal year saw strong sales and earnings. This was attributable partly to the growth of the Automotive Group as well as to winter tire business, which exceeded the strong sales volume of the same period of the previous year.

“We continued our growth once again in 2016. In the Rubber Group, we sold a record 150 million tires. Despite persistently weak demand in the oil and mining business, ContiTech’s EBIT margin almost reached the double-digit level at the end of the year, thus significantly exceeding the previous year’s figure. In the Automotive Group, we increased incoming orders by 10 percent to more than €33 billion in 2016. In addition to orders for advanced driver assistance products, which rose to more than €3 billion, orders for products and systems for hybrid and electric vehicles climbed by 17 percent to €1.2 billion as well,” said Executive Board Chairman Dr. Elmar Degenhart on Monday when presenting the preliminary key data during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

“For 2017, we are anticipating an increase in sales of over 6 percent to more than €43 billion. Our target is to comfortably achieve an adjusted EBIT margin of more than 10.5 percent. In this context, we are anticipating a slight increase in global production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with a total weight of up to six metric tons of 1 percent from 92 million vehicles to around 93 million,” added Degenhart.

Continental will release its preliminary business figures on March 2, 2017, as part of its digital annual financial press conference