German auto parts group Continental posted on Wednesday a first-quarter loss owing to the collapse of global auto markets and declined to give a forecast for the year as a whole.
Continental suffered a net loss of 267.3 million euros (352.8 million dollars) in the first three months of the year, compared with a profit of 167 million euros in the same period a year earlier, a statement said.
Overall sales shed 35.2 percent to 4.3 billion euros, with the group's automotive division showing a loss of 42 percent and its tyre unit a drop of 22 percent.
Continental chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann said he now expected "clear revival" in sales from a first quarter he termed "very weak."
The closing of two plants in France and Germany "will result in restructuring expenses in the coming quarters" however, Neumann said.
Continental posted a 2008 net loss of more than one billion euros, and Neumann said recently that the auto sector crisis could last up to five years.
It did not provide a full-year forecast along with its quarterly results.
Shares in the group nonetheless gained 1.95 percent to 18.78 euros in early Frankfurt trading, while the MDAX index on which they are listed was 0.71 percent higher overall.
