• Re-entry in the Deutsche Börse top segment confirms successful path
• International automotive supplier focuses on transparent market communication
Hanover / Frankfurt/Main – Continental AG, Hanover, is to return to the DAX 30 group and from September 24, 2012, it will once again be listed in the Deutsche Börse top segment, announced Deutsche Börse on Wednesday evening in Frankfurt am Main. "Continental is back. We are delighted at our return to the category of the most valuable companies on Deutsche Börse. This step confirms the successful hard work of the more than 170,000 Continental employees worldwide in recent years," said the Chairman of the Executive Board of the international automotive supplier, Dr. Elmar Degenhart, on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main, adding: "For us, the return to the DAX is both recognition and an incentive. Over the past years, we have been able to justify the confidence of customers, investors and banks and have significantly increased our market value. We thus feel strengthened to continue on the successful path we have taken."
He pointed out that since the end of 2008, Continental's market capitalization has risen from €4.6 billion to more than €16.8 billion recently, and added: "This means that in terms of market capitalization, Continental is valued more highly than ever before in its history of almost 141 years. We consider this to be proof that the company has been right to gear its business towards the megatrends in the automotive industry with an additional focus on tire business and ContiTech."
Continental is the first company to succeed in being promoted to the top stock exchange category in Germany for the second time. In 2003, after a 15-year abstinence, the founding member of the DAX had returned to it for the first time when the company's strategic realignment as an international automotive supplier began to bear fruit. From the beginning of 2009, Continental was then listed in the MDAX, partly because the volume of freely tradable shares at that time, amounting to just over 10%, was no longer sufficient to fulfill the necessary criteria for membership in the DAX with regard to market capitalization and trading volume.
Continental now has a stock market value of close to €16 billion, of which roughly 40% is relevant to index selection as free float according to Deutsche Börse's criteria. Over the past twelve months, the trading volume that is significant for index selection amounted to over €9 billion on average. The criteria for membership in the DAX are thus clearly fulfilled.
"In the past successful three years, we have continued our extensive and transparent financial market communication at a high level, particularly because of our changes in the ownership structure and our strategic realignment. We are therefore excellently prepared for the challenges ahead. We are currently monitored by more than 40 equity and bond analysts. Despite the positive share price development, the majority of the equity analysts still recommend buying our share," reported Continental's CFO Wolfgang Schäfer.
"The average target price calculated by the equity analysts for our share is €90, and at the high end it is as much as €125. The quotations for our bonds have also developed positively, with the yields on Continental bonds falling significantly. This all shows that the investors recognize that our business is not just temporarily "running smoothly" and "taking off". They are demonstrating confidence in our sustainable financial strength," added Schäfer.
The international automotive supplier presented its half-year figures on August 2 and at the same time raised its outlook for 2012 as a whole: Continental wants to generate sales of more than €32.5 billion and with regard to the EBIT adjusted in particular for acquisition-related amortization and special effects, it aims to beat the previous year's very strong level of 10.1%.
With sales of €30.5 billion in 2011, Continental is among the leading automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for powertrains and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers, Continental contributes to enhanced driving safety and global climate protection. Continental is also an expert partner in networked automobile communication. Continental currently has approximately 169,000 employees in 46 countries.
