HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) - The shareholders of automotive supplier Continental will meet on Friday (from 10:00 a.m.) for the Annual General Meeting in Hanover. For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting will be held in person again. The last time the shareholders met was in 2019. Since 2020, the meetings have only been held virtually, including last year, when other DAX companies had already returned to in-person events.

A year ago, the Executive Board had obtained permission from its shareholders to continue holding the Annual General Meetings virtually even after the end of the pandemic. Small shareholders in particular had criticized the decision not to hold real meetings.

The main focus of interest is likely to be the further restructuring of the Group. Last year, Conti launched a cost-cutting program worth millions for the weakening automotive supplier division. Worldwide, 7150 jobs are to be cut. Conti wants to close entire research and development sites and merge them with others. In addition, parts of the automotive supplier division, which account for around a quarter of the division's turnover, are to be put to the test.

For Group CEO Nikolai Setzer, this is the first time that he has personally welcomed shareholders to the congress center in the state capital as Chairman of the Executive Board. At the last Annual General Meeting in 2019, Setzer was still the head of the Automotive Supply Division, having only replaced Elmar Degenhart at the helm of the Group at the end of 2020./fjo/DP/zb