Continental AG is lowering its revenue projections for 2018.
The German tiremaker and technology company the exchange rate and inventory valuation effects will impact earnings by around €150 million (approx. $185 million) in the first half of 2018. This negative impact affects primarily the tire business. Accordingly, the adjusted operating result (adjusted EBIT) for the first quarter of 2018 in the Rubber Group will be about €100 million ( approx. approx. $124 million) lower than in the respective period of the prior year.
“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,” Continental said in a press release. “We are therefore lowering our outlook for the adjusted EBIT margin of the Rubber Group from about 15 percent to more than 14 percent for 2018.”
The decrease also results in a decrease in the forecast of the adjusted EBIT margin from about 10.5 percent to more than 10 percent. All other elements of the outlook the company published on March 8 remain unchanged.
Continental will publish initial key data (consolidated sales and EBIT*) for the first quarter of 2018 on the day of its annual shareholders’ meeting on April 27. The financial report for the first quarter of 2018 will be published May 8.