The sharp rise in costs for energy, raw materials and transport left the automotive supplier Continental only a small profit in 2022 - but business should recover in the current year. As the Dax group announced on Wednesday, net income shrank from around 1.4 billion euros (2021) to 67 million euros most recently. However, CEO Nikolai Setzer spoke of a "respectable result": "In view of the numerous challenges, we did well operationally in 2022." The Hanoverians were particularly affected by the economic consequences of the Ukraine war and the Covid lockdowns in China.

Added to this was the shortage of electronic parts, which slowed down the global auto and mechanical engineering business considerably. The company estimates that the overall situation should stabilize in 2023. Conti's sales - up 16.7 percent to 39.4 billion euros in 2022 - are expected to level off between 42 billion and 45 billion euros. The profit margin could also increase again after slipping last year. According to the forecast, the production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles should increase. On the Russian market, Setzer said they were planning "a controlled withdrawal" from the country.