The entire automotive industry has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and companies are taking steps to ensure their survival. Continental has provided an update on the latest measures being implemented, including reduced working hours and displays of executive solidarity. It has also buried its outlook for 2020.
Continental is postponing its 2020 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, which was scheduled to take place on 30 April. It reached this decision after the regional government in Lower Saxony, Germany announced a ban on large events in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Postponement was viewed as preferable to relocating the event away from the company’s home town of Hannover.
The future of Continental is taking shape – 15 months after holding a groundbreaking ceremony for its new headquarters site in Hannover, Germany, last week the tyre maker and automotive systems provider held a topping out ceremony for the facility. During the ceremony, Continental chief executive officer Dr Elmar Degenhart reported that the progress remains “right on schedule” and the buildings will be ready to be occupied in time for the company’s 150th anniversary in 2021.
Continental is the latest automotive sector company to report lower year-on-year income in the second quarter of the year. The tyre maker and automotive systems supplier describes its fiscal performance during the period as “an overall solid” result despite a “sharply declining market.” It is nevertheless considering ways of keeping its production costs in check, and will report its progress to this end in the weeks to come.
The foundation stone for Continental’s new headquarters in Hannover, Germany is now in place, and the company says its construction project is on schedule. Chief executive officer Dr Elmar Degenhart and Executive Board members Dr Ariane Reinhart and Wolfgang Schäfer hosted a ceremony to mark the occasion at the construction site last Wednesday.
Driverless cars? Continental had those 50 years ago…It is exactly half a century today since the tyre maker demonstrated its first electronically controlled driverless car at its Contidrom facility in Germany. In those days a car cruising the Contidrom circuit without someone behind the wheel was a novel sight, to say the least, and Continental recalls that more than 400 newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television channels reported on the events of 11 September 1968.
Although company sales and income were up during the first half of 2018, there was little to celebrate within the Tire division at Continental. Division sales volumes, sales and EBIT all decreased year-on-year in the six months to 30 June.
The first sods of earth in the construction of the new Continental headquarters in Hannover, Germany were turned yesterday at an official groundbreaking ceremony. The facility, which carries the snappy title Continental Campus, is expected to be finished by the end of 2020 and provide space for 1,250 employees. The entire headquarters workforce should be housed in the new buildings by 2021, the company’s 150th anniversary.
Major organisational changes proposed by Continental AG have gained the blessing of the company’s Supervisory Board. At a meeting today, board members approved the creation of a new Continental AG holding structure, ‘Continental Group’, and also gave the green light to making an independent legal entity out of the company’s Powertrain division ahead of its partial initial public offering (IPO) in mid-2019.
Tyre maker and automotive technology firm Continental says it will be “one of the largest organisational realignments” in its history: The Executive Board of Continental AG has announced plans to create a holding structure under a new umbrella brand, Continental Group, and support this holding structure with three new business sectors – Continental Rubber, Continental Automotive and Powertrain. These sectors will succeed the current Automotive Group and Rubber Group.
The Government has committed to ending the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040 and is under pressure from some quarters to bring this deadline forward. Technology company and tyre maker Continental, on the other hand, recommends a more protracted timetable for phasing out conventional power sources – and it has called upon governments to provide sufficient breathing space for the development of appropriate technologies.
Key data pertaining to first quarter performance were presented at the Continental Annual Shareholders’ Meeting today ahead of the release of complete Q1 2018 figures on 8 May.
Preliminary figures for Continental’s 2017 financial year were presented today and show an 8.5 per cent growth in sales, to 44 billion euros, and an EBIT margin of 10.9 per cent. With these two figures, the tyre maker and technology provider states that it surpassed its targets for the year. Net income increased 6.5 per cent year-on-year to 3 billion, which equates to earnings of 14.92 euros per share.
Preliminary figures for Continental’s 2017 financial year were presented today and show an 8.5 per cent growth in sales, to 44 billion euros, and an EBIT margin of 10.9 per cent. With these two figures, the tyre maker and technology provider states that it surpassed its targets for the year. Net income increased 6.5 per cent year-on-year to 3 billion, which equates to earnings of 14.92 euros per share.
Preliminary key data for the 2017 fiscal year published this week shows annual sales at Continental AG to have met estimates announced in November. The tyre maker and automotive technology company reports sales of “around 44 billion euros,” while the adjusted EBIT margin for the year is approximately 10.8 per cent. Continental views its annual targets as being “exceeded”.
Photo: Continental AG