Continental says 2016 sales rise three percent to 40.5 billion euros

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German automotive supplier Continental reported a 3 percent rise in 2016 reported sales, helped by its automotive and tire business in the fourth quarter. The company said it had achieved an operating margin of around 10.7 percent in 2016 on sales of around 40.5 billion euros (35.02 billion pounds). "We continued our growth once again in 2016. In the Rubber Group, we sold a record 150 million tires," Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart said in a statement. Continental said it expected sales to increase by more than 6 percent to more than 43 billion euros in 2017. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Christoph Steitz)