(MENAFN- AFP) Continental, the German maker of tyres and auto parts, said on Tuesday that it got off to a good start in the first three months of the 2014.
Continental "posted a strong start to the year, significantly increasing its profits," the group said in a statement.
"In the opening months of the year, we once again demonstrated that we are very capable of combining our growth with value creation," said chief executive Elmar Degenhart.
"We intend to continue along our current path in the coming months, too."
In the period from January to March, net profit sped ahead by 33.3 percent to 588.3 million neuros ($819 million).
Underlying or operating profit was up 20.8 percent at 903.2 million euros while sales advanced by 4.4 percent to 8.39 billion euros.
Looking ahead, Continental said it was confident about the outlook for the full year.
"Following an encouraging start to fiscal 2014, we are reiterating our recent forecast. We still anticipate an increase in consolidated sales to around 35 billion euros," said chief executive Degenhart.
"A persistently unfavourable development" in exchange rates could "negatively influence the sales forecast," it cautioned, estimating that the negative currency translation effect "could be higher than the approximately 700 million euros that was still assumed in March 2014."
In terms of operating margin, Continental said it was increasing its original goal from 10.0 percent to 10.5 percent in 2014.
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