(Reuters) – Continental reported a 31.6% rise in its full-year 2023 operating profit to 2.5 billion euros on Thursday, slightly below market expectations, driven by inflation, exchange rates and higher transportation costs.
The German automotive supplier said it expects sales of between 41 and 44 billion euros in 2024, and an adjusted operating margin (Ebit) of around 6 to 7%. Analysts on average expected a turnover forecast of 42.8 billion euros, according to a consensus provided by the company.
Continental said it expects further margin improvement, driven by cost-cutting measures, pricing adjustments and efficiency gains achieved last year.
Sales increased by 5.1% in 2023 to 41.4 billion euros, a figure slightly lower than the expectations of analysts, who expected a result of 41.7 billion euros.
Continental said it would propose a dividend of 2.20 euros per share, up from 1.50 euros per share a year ago.
(Report Bartosz Dabrowski, Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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