Speaking to the annual general meeting, Karl-Thomas Neumann said management needed to shed light on the direction of its shaky alliance with controlling shareholder Schaeffler as well as the future of its Rubber Group.
"What is missing in the end is the overall concept itself. We owe this clarity to all those involved, especially the 133,000 employees currently working for Continental, but also our creditor banks and, of course, our shareholders," he said. Neumann, speaking for the first time as CEO at the company’s AGM, said it remained unclear how Continental and Schaeffler would cooperate in future.
The 11.8 billion euro ($15.37 billion) syndicated credit line renegotiated in January, and in particular a 3.5 billion euro tranche due for repayment in August 2010, continue to cause headaches for management, Neumann said.
"We have been able to comply with the covenants in the first quarter of this year, however it remains a major challenge to hold to the limits agreed upon for the remainder of the year," he said.
"Our confidence that we can successfully deal with this is unshaken."
He said Continental was still examining whether a sale of assets – mainly tyre activities bundled in the Rubber Group – would be the best way to pay off the tranche due in August of next year. (Tire Review/Akron)
