Third Quarter: Continental Sets Course for Next Successful Chapter in its History

Hanover, November 10, 2021. In the third quarter of its anniversary year, Continental set the strategic course for the next successful chapter in its history by making its previously announced structural adjustments. At the same time, the delivery situation for electronic components worsened. This had a significant impact on sales and earnings, which was only partially offset by the positive trend in sales volumes of replacement tires and industrial products.

“Our Rubber Technologies group sector achieved robust earnings thanks primarily to the strong replacement-tire and industrial product businesses. It achieved this success despite the mounting burdens associated with rising raw material prices and energy and logistics costs,” explained Nikolai Setzer, Continental CEO, when presenting the quarterly figures on Wednesday in Hanover. “At the same time,” he added, “the global semiconductor shortage worsened in the third quarter due to the coronavirus situation in Southeast Asia and likely reached its peak. This affected in particular our Automotive Technologies group sector, whose product portfolio comprises a high share of electronics. While we are severely affected by the current semiconductor shortage, there is no doubt that vehicles will be equipped with more and more electronics, sensors and software in the future. With our product portfolio, we will therefore benefit greatly from this trend.”

Although Continental expects the supply situation to improve in the coming months, the semiconductor shortage and rising raw material prices are likely to continue to have a negative impact on the automotive industry in the fourth quarter of this year and throughout 2022.

“Despite the short-term challenges, we successfully completed the spin-off of Vitesco Technologies in the past quarter. With the new structure that we have put in place in our anniversary year, we have also set the strategic course for the next successful chapter in our company’s history. The pooling of our expertise, particularly in the area of software, will benefit both us and our customers,” emphasized Setzer.

Consolidated sales down year-on-year in the third quarter

At €8.0 billion, consolidated sales were down year-on-year in the third quarter (Q3 2020: €8.7 billion, -7.4 percent) due to significantly lower vehicle production. …

Source: Continental