HANOVER, Germany — Continental A.G.'s tire operations reported a 2.2% drop in fiscal 2023 pre-tax operating earnings on 0.3% lower sales revenue, and fiscal 2024 promises much of the same.
Fiscal 2023 EBITDA fell to $2.8 billion on sales revenue of $15.1 billion, Conti reported, noting at the same time that the tire unit's adjusted operating earnings ratio rose slightly, to 13.5%, due to the unit's continued high share of premium tires and a strong business surge in Europe in the final months of the year.
Conti did not elaborate on the unit's performance at this time, other than to say it has developed a position" in the OE tire segment for electric vehicles, claiming to have secured OE fitments on "the 10 highest-volume manufacturers" of EVs.
For fiscal 2024, tire business revenue could range from flat to growth of as much as 7%, based on unit-sales projections of no growth to 3% growth. The earnings margin likely will vary only a half percentage point up or down versus the fiscal 2023 performance
Overall, Continental A.G. reported a 31.6% increase in operating income on 5.1% higher sales revenue, based on strong growth in the automotive sector, which accounted for 49% of the firm's total sales last year, up three percentage points from 2022.
