BERLIN, March 9 (Xinhua) -- German car parts supplier Continental recorded a net loss of 962 million euros (1.15 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, the company announced on Tuesday in a financial statement.
According to preliminary figures, Continental's sales in 2020 declined by 15.2 percent year-on-year to 37.7 billion euros.
"2020 was an enormously strenuous year for all of us. The coronavirus pandemic, the transformation of the automotive industry and the continuation of our structural program have demanded a great deal from us," Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer said in the statement.
"The bottom line is, however, that we suffered extensive setbacks with regard to both sales and earnings. We nevertheless finished the past year stronger overall than we had feared in the spring," he said.
The company said it has decided to propose a suspension of the dividend for 2020.
For 2021, Continental is expecting a recovery with consolidated sales between around 40.5 to 42.5 billion euros. The company is estimating a global increase in the production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles of 9 to 12 percent.
At the same time, Continental is planning to invest an additional 200 million euros to 250 million euros in 2021 in the fields of assisted and automated driving.
Overall, the German company did not expect a return to the record level of global car production seen in 2017 before 2025.
"The start of the current fiscal year has been subdued so far due to the shortage of semiconductors. The effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic remain a source of uncertainty too," said chief financial officer (CFO) Wolfgang Schaefer. (1 euro = 1.19 U.S. dollars) Enditem