German automotive supplier Continental reported on Wednesday that sales declined and that a net loss was registered for the full year of 2025. In addition, the company anticipates a decrease in sales for fiscal 2026.
For fiscal 2025, the company posted a net loss of €165 million, or €0.83 per share, compared with a profit of €1.168 billion, or €5.84 per share, in fiscal 2024. The adjusted operating result slipped to €2.035 billion from €2.212 billion in the prior year.
The company’s earnings were hurt by non-cash special effects from the Aumovio spin-off and the planned OESL sale, which had a negative impact of €1.2 billion. The adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin was 10.3%, compared with 11% a year ago.
Continental posted sales of €19.676 billion, down from €20.077 billion a year ago. For fiscal 2025, the board will pay a dividend of €2.70 per share, up €0.20 per share from the previous year.
Volatile market environment
Looking ahead, the company said that “Continental continues to anticipate a volatile market environment in 2026.”
“For the global replacement-tire business for passenger cars, the tire manufacturer expects sales volumes to develop by -1% to +2%,” the company added. “Global production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles is expected to develop by -2% to 0%.”
Continental also noted that the outlook does not take into account the potential effects of the military conflict in the Middle East that is now escalating.
For fiscal 2026, Continental foresees consolidated sales of around €17.3 billion to €18.9 billion with an adjusted EBIT margin of around 11% to 12.5%.
A lot of German automotive suppliers are suffering these days, just like their fellow country OEMs. Giants like Bosch, ZF and others have already reacted by cutting down workforce, production and investments. Teh latest figures show that in 2025 some 120,000 jobs were lost in the German automotive industry. What is happening today in the Middle East surely isn’t contributing to an imminent recovery.
