HANOVER, Germany (April 28, 2010)—Continental A.G. returned to the black in the first quarter, reporting pretax operating profits of $652 million on a 40-percent increase in sales, to $7.9 billion.
The firm's Rubber Group posted operating income of $413 million on sales of $2.9 billion.
The strong first quarter performance prompted Elmar Degenhart, Conti executive board chairman, to forecast a significant increase in the pretax operating income for the year and a sales improvement of as much as 10 percent, if the markets continue to be as positive as they have been so far.
Conti said it will release its complete first-quarter earnings report on May 4.