Continental has announced 2013 profits up 0.9% to more than EUR1.9bn (US$2.6bn), with sales rising to EUR33.3bn, despite negative exchange rate effects of more than EUR800m.
For this year, the supplier says it expects markets to develop positively in North America and Asia, as in the previous year, with expansion of business planned for China in particular.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“Looking back, we achieved more than anticipated overall,” said Continental CEO, Elmar Degenhart. “We once again generated a high level of profit of more than EUR1.9bn.
“The free cash flow amounts to more than EUR1.8bn, allowing us to reduce net indebtedness by a further EUR1bn. We continued to invest heavily in property, plant and equipment, software and R&D.
“At the same time, we persistently created the scope for an acquisition worth well over a billion euros.”
In 2013 Continental increased sales 1.8% to EUR33.3bn. Adjusted for negative exchange rate effects of EUR800m and changes in the scope of consolidation, this worked out to an increase of 4%.
EBIT climbed by 2.4% to nearly EUR3.3bn, while the EBIT margin was 9.8%, following 9.7% in fiscal 2012.
