Continental revises H1 2018 outlook

First half 2018 earnings at Continental AG are now expected to be around 150 million euros less than previously projected, the company reports. To blame for this negative development are exchange rate and inventory valuation effects, primarily in Continental’s tyre business. In response to anticipated lower earnings, Continental has revised its outlook for adjusted operating result (adjusted EBIT) within its Rubber Group for the period – this is expected to be around 100 million euros lower than in the first half of 2017.

“At present, we do not assume that we will be able to compensate for these negative effects in the Rubber Group over the course of the year. We are therefore lowering our outlook for the adjusted EBIT margin of the Rubber Group from about 15 per cent to more than 14 per cent for 2018,” wrote Continental in a statement yesterday.

For the corporation as a whole, these lower earnings are expected to result in adjusted EBIT margin decreasing from around 10.5 per cent to just over ten per cent. All other aspects of the outlook that Continental published on 8 March 2018 remain unchanged.

Continental will publish initial key data (consolidated sales and EBIT) for the first quarter of 2018 on 27 April, the day of the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. The full first quarter financial report will be published on 8 May 2018.