HANOVER (dpa-AFX) - Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer has put the corporation's shareholders in the mood for a more stable remainder of 2023 following his contract extension - while hinting at continued high prices for automotive technology and tires. Commenting on talks with major customers of the supplier, he said on Thursday, "We are also keeping an eye on the issue in the coming months. Because inflation remains - so do our negotiations." Cost pressures from transportation and logistics, for example, are mixed, he said, but in some cases are still above pre-Corona levels. Wage increases also played a role.

Shortly before the online AGM, which was marked by technical glitches, the Supervisory Board had appointed Setzer to head the DAX-listed company for several more years. He is to lead Conti until March 2029.

Chief Financial Officer Katja Dürrfeld said that in the core automotive business, "significant price increases" for raw materials would probably still have to be expected. The shortage is easing for some microchips, but overall, "the semiconductor market as a whole continues to pose a substantial challenge." Continental expects inflationary effects of a further €1.7 billion in 2023. It is still unclear how strongly these could impact end customer prices.

The company's management had expanded its supplier network in order to be less dependent on individual suppliers. Some raw materials are now purchased from alternative sources, Setzer said. For types of semiconductors that are in particularly high demand, however, the situation would not improve until 2025 at the earliest.

Several shareholder representatives asked about the status of the follow-up to last fall's cyberattack. Hackers had stolen 40 terabytes of data from Continental. There were no details on this; according to Dürrfeld, the investigations are still ongoing. The costs so far add up to a "low single-digit million amount."

Christian Retkowski of the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger criticized the pace: "After more than ten months of forensic analysis, you can't say what kinds of documents were stolen?" He said Conti must be aware of its responsibility as a "pioneer in autonomous driving." Otherwise, in the event of IT hacks, there could soon be "quite a few sharp weapons on the road" in car software as well.

Shareholders praised employees and management for the business results achieved in the past year, which according to Supervisory Board Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle was "once again not easy." Conti's net profit shrank from around 1.4 billion euros (2021) to 67 million euros. However, this also included high write-downs due to the rise in interest rates and the Russia sanctions.

For 2023, the management is relatively optimistic, assuming an increase in global auto production as well as sales and profit margin. A dividend of 1.50 euros per share is to be paid out - a cut of 70 cents. The restructuring and savings course continues. A program is running at Conti until 2029, which will also see the elimination of quite a few jobs. "Starting next year, we want to make gross annual savings of more than 850 million euros," Setzer said.

There was displeasure because the Annual General Meeting was once again held purely digitally - with considerable technical difficulties. Soon after the start, transmission via the Internet broke down. After a forced break of almost three quarters of an hour, filled with image videos, Reitzle had to present his report a second time, after he had previously justified the online version with the possibility of a "lively dialog analogous to a face-to-face AGM".

A representative of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (German Association for the Protection of Securities Owners) was annoyed: "The stream was a disaster, it can't be like that," said Alexander von Vietinghoff-Scheel. Without a stable exchange, he said, shareholder democracy was at risk. "We will reserve the right to take legal action for our members there." The leadership nevertheless asked shareholders for the right to hold general meetings "virtually" for three years.

No substantive details were given on the status of internal investigations into Conti's possible involvement in the VW diesel scandal and into quality defects in air-conditioning lines and hoses. Conti has formed special committees for both issues. "These were and are special charges," Setzer said generally. "We are drawing consequences." Starting in May, former Mercedes manager Olaf Schick will head a new integrity and legal department on the board.

There was news, on the other hand, about plans in the USA. There, Conti wants to strengthen its future business with technologies for autonomous driving with another cooperation. The Group entered into a partnership with Aurora Innovation, which offers highly automated systems for trucks and commercial vehicle fleets./jap/DP/he