During today’s 2025 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, Continental confirmed its intention to once again become first and foremost a tyre maker. Chief Executive Officer Nikolai Setzer anticipates that this new, lightweight Continental will be a “leading provider of premium tyres.” As separate businesses, ContiTech and the freshly renamed Aumovio will respectively be “strong, independent champions.”
From 1 October 2025, Roland Welzbacher will become Chief Financial Officer of Continental AG. He succeeds Olaf Schick, who requested the early termination of his contract in December 2024.
By the end of next year, ContiTech will be an independent company, and Continental will once again be primarily a tyre maker. At a meeting today, the Continental Executive Board decided in favour of the group sector’s autonomy, thereby setting in motion a preparatory phase that will involve analysing and assessing the potential forms of transaction for the business’s independence and drawing up a specific timetable for implementation.
Olaf Schick will part ways with Continental earlier than planned. A committee within the company’s Supervisory Board has agreed to the Chief Financial Officer’s request to step down on 30 September 2025. Schick will also relinquish the role of Executive Board member for Finance, Integrity and Law. He intends to return to Mercedes-Benz Group and will join its board of management on 1 October 2025.
Following a detailed evaluation, the Executive Board of Continental AG has decided to spin off its Automotive group sector business. Subject to the approval of the company’s Supervisory Board in March 2025, shareholders will vote upon the spin-off at the Continental Annual Shareholders’ Meeting scheduled for 25 April 2025. The spin-off will then likely take place by the end of 2025, with preparations for it completed by the end of the third quarter.
Continental AG has reported consolidated sales of €10.0 billion for Q2 2024, a 4.1% decrease year-on-year. Despite this decline in sales, adjusted EBIT rose by 40.6% to €704 million, leading to an adjusted EBIT margin of 7.0%, compared to 4.8% in Q2 2023.
After concluding a strategic review in response to “the increasingly dynamic markets in the automotive industry,” Continental is more closely examining the possibility of spinning off its Automotive group sector business. The Continental Executive Board has announced that the company will “conduct a further detailed evaluation” before deciding on the matter in the fourth quarter of 2024. If approved by shareholders, Continental intends to complete the spin-off by the end of 2025.
At its meeting on 27 June, the Supervisory Board of Continental AG appointed Olaf Schick as the company’s new chief financial officer. Schick begins in this role today and will oversee Group Finance and Controlling, while maintaining responsibility for Group Law and Intellectual Property, Group Compliance, Group Internal Audit, Group Quality Management, and Group Risks and Controls. A further change sees chief executive officer Nikolai Setzer take charge of Group Information Technology.
Chief executive officer Nikolai Setzer set the tone for Continental’s future during the 2024 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting last Friday, emphasising the company’s pivotal role in advancing mobility technology. This year’s meeting marked a return to in-person gatherings after a five-year hiatus, with a simultaneous live stream for broader accessibility.
On 13 December, Continental invited 150 local political, business and cultural representatives to celebrate the official opening of its new headquarters in Hannover, Germany. It followed this up the next day with a larger event for its workforce. Many employees had by this time thoroughly familiarised themselves with the facility, as they’d begun working there a fortnight earlier.
As Tyrepress reported on 11 December, Wolfgang Reitzle no longer intends to end his tenure as chairman of the Continental AG Supervisory Board in 2024. At a Supervisory Board meeting on 13 December, he confirmed his availability to serve for an additional two years.
Continental revealed its strategy for growth at its Capital Market Day yesterday. The company aims to enhance value creation by implementing cost reduction measures, with a goal of achieving an adjusted EBIT margin of 8-11% within 2-3 years and improving within this range thereafter. Continental also refined its sales targets and now aims for €44-48 billion in 2-3 years and €51-56 billion in 3-5 years.
Continental has published its financial results for the three months to 30 September with the comment that Q3 2023 concluded “in line with expectations.” For the Tires group sector, the expectation was thus lower sales but an improved earnings position.
Continental’s half-year report shows that its Tires group sector is driving earnings, with 88 per cent of adjusted EBIT from tyre sales. “Despite difficult market conditions, our Tires group sector ended the second quarter with good earnings once again. ContiTech’s performance remained solid. Earnings in Automotive, however, fell short of expectations. Here we will need to make up considerable ground in the second half of the year. By doing so, we will also improve our consolidated margin,” commented Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer.
When Continental first discussed setting up a plant in Russia back in 2011, it spoke of an investment of around 220 million euros. According to sources within Russia, the German company may only recover a fraction of this amount when divesting its local operation to S8 Capital. Moscow-based newspaper Kommersant states that the transaction is valued at 7 to 10 billion roubles, or just 80 million to 114 million euros, a figure in line with the “impaired assets of around 87 million euros” that Continental reported in connection with its business activity in Russia on 8 March 2023.
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