Continental’s Annual General Meeting

At the annual general meeting of Continental AG, held at the Preussag-Arena of the Hanover EXPO Centre, both management board and shareholders were united in not being very happy with the development of the company’s share price. However, they did not agree over the intention to sell ContiTech. Whereas, for the group’s representatives this is another logical step towards becoming a systems supplier for the automobile industry, the question was raised, whether instead it might be more useful to separate from the weak Continental Tire North America (the former General Tire).

Another factor is that last year ContiTech achieved quite a profitable result. This kind of argument took the wind out of the sails of both Continental’s managing director, Dr. Stefan Kessel and board member Manfred Wennemer, who is responsible for this business unit within the group.

They were united in their desire to follow the path towards “Global Chassis Control”. And in order to emerge from the decline, a cluster of measures has already been introduced. “We expect these measures to bear fruits soon, and that sales increases will be reflected in the results, too.

However, 2001 will be a very difficult year for tyres in the USA” – such was the managing director’s outlook. “Therefore, it will be even more important to become a systems supplier. As there are only a few suppliers for the automobile industry, hostile take-overs will be rather unlikely.

” Kessel was trying to allay the shareholder’s fears and once more justify Continental’s strategic change. Of course, it would be very helpful to spur on the share price, as explicitly declared by the group’s top management at the AGM – however, it needs more than words..