The Continental Group achieved a good start in the first quarter of 2012, and set a good start for the third consecutive business year. In terms of sales and EBIT, the first quarter again created the best score in the company's history. “Given the excellent performance of 2012, we are optimistic that we can certainly achieve our established annual target of more than 5% in sales, which exceeds 32 billion Euros. At the same time, the adjusted EBIT margin has reached double digits. There is a continued reduction in net financial debt to below 6.5 billion euros,” said Dr. Almar Degenhardt, chairman of the Continental Group’s executive board, in Hannover recently.

In the first three months of 2012, Continental's sales increased by 13.3% over the same quarter of the previous year, exceeding 8.3 billion euros. At the same time, EBIT rose by nearly 21% to approximately EUR 766 million, and the EBIT margin was 9.2%, compared with 8.6% a year ago. In particular, the group's pre-tax profit (adjusted EBIT), which adjusted the depreciation and special item expenses caused by the acquisition, reached 875 million euros, a year earlier at 734 million euros, and the adjusted EBIT margin was 10.6. %, 10% a year ago. In the first quarter of 2012, the group's profit distribution to shareholders increased by a full 31% compared to the same period of last year to nearly 483 million euros, which corresponds to a profit of 2.41 euros per share, compared with 1.84 euros a year ago. The Continental Group’s net financial debt decreased by 764 million euros compared to the same period of the previous year. Due to seasonal influence, it increased by 69 million euros compared to the end of 2011, but it was significantly lower than the general increase in the first quarter. As a result, the debt ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2012 reached 85%, which was a change from the 117% in the same period a year ago and 90% at the end of 2011.

“At present, the continuous reduction of our debt has also had a significant positive impact on interest expenses. Interest expense is 145 million euros, which is about 38 million euros lower than the same period of last year,” said chief financial officer Wolfgang Schaeffer. . “In addition to the reduced net financial debt, the interest rate below the level of the previous year was also contributing to this development. Since we linked the interest rate of return to the ratio of net debt and tax depreciation and pre-tax profit, Earnings have already been made. The value of the “running ratio” has slightly exceeded 1.5 at the end of the first quarter, but by the end of the year we will keep this value below 1.5, which is also very important for our bank credit rating.” Fair also pointed out that as of March 31, 2011, corporate liquidity reserves totaled nearly 3.7 billion euros, of which 1.3 billion euros were cash and cash equivalents, and an unused credit line of up to 2.4 billion euros. .

Continental Group created approximately 3,400 new jobs in the first quarter of 2012, and the total number of employees now reaches about 167,000, which is an increase of 12,400 from a year ago. "If the automotive industry maintains this positive momentum, we will also create thousands of jobs globally in 2012," said Dr. Degenhardt. In addition, the chairman of the executive board made it clear that both the auto group and the rubber group have again contributed to the strong growth of the mainland group. Compared with the same period of last year, sales of the automotive group in the first quarter increased by about 12% to nearly 5.1 billion euros. The adjusted EBIT was 403 million euros, compared with 359 million euros a year ago. Rubber Group's sales growth was about 15%, reaching nearly 3.3 billion euros. The adjusted EBIT in the first quarter of 2012 increased from 397 million euros a year ago to 494 million euros. Due to the increase in the cost of rare earths in the first quarter of 2012, the auto group's earnings for the quarter were affected, and the recent increase in oil prices may also have a certain impact on the rubber group.

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