Conti finishes 2016 fiscal year ahead of projections

HANOVER, Germany—Record tire sales of 150 million units, driven in part by an increase in winter tire sales, helped Continental A.G. overcome the weakening demand in the oil and mining business and provide what the company called a "successful" ending to the 2016 fiscal year.

In a Jan. 9 news release, Continental noted that the sales and earnings growth in the fourth quarter were due in part to the Automotive Group and to winter tire sales, which exceeded the sales volume of the same period in the previous year.

Continental also reported a 3 percent increase in year-on-year sales to around $39.1 billion and an adjusted EBIT margin of around 10.7 percent, allowing it to achieve the annual targets as adjusted in October 2016.

"We continued our growth once again in 2016," Executive Board Chairman Elmar Degenhart said during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "Despite persistently weak demand in the oil and mining business, ContiTech's EBIT margin almost reached the double-digit level at the end of the year, thus significantly exceeding the previous year's figure."

Degenhart also noted that incoming orders increased by 10 percent to more than $30.03 billion in 2016, while orders for advanced driver assistance products rose to more than $2.73 billion. In the hybrid and electric vehicles market, Degenhart said, orders rose by 17 percent to $1.09 billion, setting Continental up for a strong start to 2017.

Additionally, the company anticipates a 1 percent rise in the global production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to 93 million in 2017. This would give the company solid grounding moving into the new year.

"For 2017, we are anticipating an increase in sales of over 6 percent to more than ($39.13) billion," Degenhart said. "Our target is to comfortably achieve an adjusted EBIT margin of more than 10.5 percent."

Continental will release preliminary business figures on March 2, as part of its annual financial news conference.