BERLIN, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The German auto parts supplier and tire producer Continental expects a declining profit margin in 2019, the company announced on Monday.

For the current fiscal year, the DAX-listed company is expecting sales to amount to approximately 45 to 47 billion euros (51.6 billion U.S. dollars to 53.9 billion U.S. dollars).

Continental expects the adjusted margin of earnings before interest and taxes to be at around 8 to 9 percent across the entire corporation by the end of 2019.

According to preliminary key data that Continental released on Monday, Continental's total annual sales amounted to 44.4 billion euros with an adjusted EBIT margin of around 9.2 percent in 2018.

According to Continental, the declining overall market development was likely to continue unchanged in the first half of 2019.

Continental CFO Wolfgang Schaefer explained that "the main reasons for this are the continued weak demand in China, the trade dispute between the U.S. and China, and further decreases in call-offs as a result of the switch to WLTP in Europe."

In addition, there would be "general uncertainty" around the upcoming Brexit, said Schaefer.

Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart said that the company had achieved "respectable results" and reached "our adjusted annual targets" in spite of the "decline of the automotive markets" which "intensified significantly once again in the fourth quarter" in 2018.

In the second half of 2019, the company expects a slight market growth. "For fiscal 2019, we expect the production volume of cars and light commercial vehicle to be on a par with the previous year," said Schaefer.

Continental will release its preliminary business figures for the year 2018 on March 7 as part of its online broadcasted annual financial press conference. Enditem

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