Continental forecasts first-quarter sales drop on falling auto demand
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FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- German supplier Continental forecasts first-quarter sales will decline as much as 3 percent as demand for autos in its home market plunges.
Revenue in the quarter will drop 1 percent to 3 percent, the company's CEO Elmar Degenhart said.
Auto production will drop a combined 8 percent in Europe and North America in the first three months, Degenhart said on Thurdsay.
Continental has partly avoided the effects of the region's recession by following Volkswagen and other German carmakers into growing markets such as China and the United States.
The company today reiterated forecasts that sales this year will rise about 5 percent and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes "above" 10 percent of revenue.
Full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes increased 16 percent to 3.52 billion euros last year, with the fourth-quarter figure rising 5.9 percent to 861 million euros, Continental said. Sales in 2012 rose 7.3 percent to 32.7 billion euros, the supplier said on Jan. 14.
A focus on high-value parts such as fuel-injection technology, safety sensors and emergency braking systems has attracted customers to Continental. The company agreed in February to cooperate on research in automatic-drive systems with BMW.
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