Reports: Continental 1Q may be worse than expected

In an interview with German Euro am Sonntag news source, Continental AG CFO Wolfgang Schaefer said he expected the company to report first quarter results "slightly worse" than anticipated. In March, the company said it estimates first-quarter sales to decline by between 1 and 3 per cent on the year, with roughly flat margin. However, during the interview Schaefer admitted missing the 1 to 3 per cent mark.

In response financial analysts estimated that the company’s first quarter pre-tax profits (EBIT) are now below 830 million euros. This would mean the company would have to repeat quarter EBIT records attained in 2012 in order to meet consensus expectations for the year as a whole. Furthermore, Morgan Stanley report that the bad news “albeit mild, slows down momentum further and reinforces skepticism around short and mid term growth potential for European exposed part makers.”