Announcing its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, tyre maker and automotive technology firm Continental states that it “performed well” during the period despite “an increasingly turbulent market environment.” It describes its Q1 2022 tyre business as “strong.”
Although chief executive officer Nikolai Setzer believes the past financial year was “a very trying one” for Continental and a period presenting “many challenges,” the tyre maker and automotive solutions company nonetheless managed to achieve a positive net income in 2021 after two consecutive years of losses.
Continental has appointed Katja Dürrfeld (49) as its new chief financial officer, effective from 14 December 2021. Dürrfeld assumes responsibility for group finance and controlling as well as group information technology immediately, taking over from interim CFO Nikolai Setzer. Setzer had added the role to his existing duties following the departure of Wolfgang Schäfer on 17 November, while Dürrfeld had held the provisional management of these areas below the executive board level. Currently head of Finance, Controlling and Information Technology for the ContiTech business area, she will also take charge of finance and controlling in the future automotive group sector from 1 January, 2022, as was previously announced at the end of September. The supervisory board has also extended the appointment of Dr Ariane Reinhart (52) as executive board member for human relations and sustainability and director of labour relations.
During an extraordinary meeting held yesterday, the Continental AG Supervisory Board agreed to mutually terminate Wolfgang Schäfer’s appointment as chief financial officer and member of the company’s Executive Board, effective immediately. Continental states that Schäfer’s departure from the company is linked to investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in Hannover, Germany, into the use of illegal defeat devices in diesel engines and shortcomings from Continental’s side in the ongoing investigations.
Anniversary year ups and downs: As it marks one and a half centuries in the business, Continental reports that it has “set the strategic course for the next successful chapter in its history by making its previously announced structural adjustments” during Q3 2021. But the delivery situation for electronic components also worsened during the quarter, and Continental says this “had a significant impact on sales and earnings” that could only be partially offset by sales volumes within its aftermarket tyre and industrial product businesses.
Happy birthday, Continental. The German tyre maker and technology company is 150 years old today, making it one of the oldest companies both in Germany and within the automotive business. One and a half centuries after starting out as a maker of rubber products for horse-drawn vehicles, the firm still specialises in the latest modes of transport and is positioning itself to meet future challenges.
Continental has initiated a restructure of its management following a meeting of its Supervisory Board on Thursday. Board members Helmut Matschi and Frank Jourdan will leave the company prematurely. Matschi (58) and Jourdan (61) were originally to stay in position until 2024. As of January 1, 2022, the company will retain only five board members. The group will also integrate its activities into three corporate divisions: Automotive, Tires and ContiTech.
Continental AG presented figures for a strong first half of the year, and while its overall sales rose by 22 per cent to 20.2 billion euros, those of its Tire division increased 28.1 per cent. Furthermore, this division was the company’s profit-maker, delivering almost 63 per cent of its EBIT despite accounting for just 42 per cent of sales.
During its meeting yesterday, the Continental AG Supervisory Board agreed upon an “important phase” in the company’s transition from tyre maker to mobility supplier. From 1 January 2022, Continental will elevate its business with systems for advanced driver assistance and automated driving into its own business area within its Automotive Technologies group sector.
Continental AG has appointed Nikolai Setzer (49) as its new executive board chairman until March 2024, effective 1 December 2020. He succeeds Dr. Elmar Degenhart (61), who is stepping down for health reasons, effective 30 November 2020. Setzer is widely seen as a safe pair of hands for the company who has been prepared for the position for years.
Following the news that Elmar Degenhart is stepping down as Continental AG chief executive at the end of the month, Nikolai Setzer is being touted as his most likely replacement. On 12 November 2020 Continental AG’s supervisory board is scheduled to meet. Deciding the successor to outgoing CEO Elmar Degenhart will no-doubt be top of the agenda. According to the German Handelsblatt newspaper, Nikolai Setzer has been lined up to take over from the outgoing Conti boss.
Continental’s new tyre making facility in Thailand is officially up and running. A ceremony was held yesterday to mark the occasion, with around 500 people present to mark inauguration of the 250-million-euro greenfield factory in Rayong. Production will now be ramped up to provide a capacity to manufacture some four million passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres by 2022. These tyres will be sold locally and throughout the entire APAC region.
At a meeting on 14 March, the Supervisory Board of German tyre and automotive systems maker Continental approved the next stage of one of the largest organisational changes in its history. Several new appointments at Executive Board level were announced, including the transfer of Nikolai Setzer to the company’s Automotive Group.
Several Tire Industry Project members have published sustainable natural rubber procurement policies of late. Yokohama and Hankook published theirs this month, and so did Continental. The company says its Sustainable Natural Rubber Sourcing Policy will guide the Rubber Group in detecting risks to workers, communities, forests, biodiversity and agricultural land, such as deforestation, corruption and land grabbing, in the early stages.
The UK government identifies tyres as potentially responsible for up to ten per cent of the microplastics in the world’s oceans, and some research conducted abroad suggests this proportion could be much higher. A study from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicates that 28.3 per cent of all primary microplastics may come from tyre/road wear (this figure rises to 46.2 per cent when the IUCN includes both natural and synthetic rubber in its scenario), and earlier this year a marine biologist from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research singled out tyres as a “major influence” upon the presence of microplastics in our oceans. Taking such research at face value, it is feasible that the ‘dieselgate’ scandal could be followed at some stage by ‘tyregate’. Yet the tyre industry asserts that tyre/road wear isn’t the environmental and health risk some claim it to be. Continental’s Nikolai Setzer recently discussed this side of the argument.
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