Continental Ups Forecast As More Rubber Hits The Road

FRANKFURT,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Augst,2016) - car parts supplier Continental upped its forecast for 2016 on Wednesday after strong performance in its tyres business. Chief executive Elmar Degenhart said the group would target an adjusted operating profit of "over 11 percent", where previously the target had been set at "around 11 percent". Continental's net profit in the second quarter grew to 905 million euros ($1 billion), up 14 percent on April-June 2015 and outstripping the 825 million Euros predicted by analysts surveyed by Factset. Over the first half of the year, the group achieved revenues of 20 billion euros, for an operating profit as measured by EBIT of 2.29 billion euros -- up 6.0 percent compared with the same period in 2015 -- and a 13 percent increase in net profit to 1.64 billion euros. That was largely driven by Continental's tyres and rubber products division, which enjoyed sales growth and lower raw materials costs than expected, the firm said.

The unit boosted operating profit by 17 percent compared with the first half of 2015 to 1.4 billion euros, on revenues of 7.9 billion euros. Degenhart's increased target did little to impress investors on the Frankfurt stock exchange, with Continental's share price among to the worst performers in morning trading with losses of around 1.0 percent. Analysts had already been expecting operating profit growth higher than 11 percent for the year, making the firm's increased forecast little surprise to the markets. By contrast, Continental's revenue growth of 1.6 percent to 10.2 billion euros in the first half fell short of analysts' expectations of 10.4 billion euros.