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Volvo Car Group reports third quarter 2016 operating profit increases 62 per cent year-on-year to SEK2.07bn

Volvo Car Group reports third quarter 2016 operating profit increases 62 per cent year-on-year to SEK2.07bn  

 

Volvo Car Group, the premium car maker, has reported third quarter operating profit of SEK2,067m compared to SEK1,276m in the same period last year and a year-on-year increase in revenue to SEK41,1bn from SEK36.1bn previously. The operating margin rose from 3.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2015 to 5 per cent in 2016.

 

Operating profit for the first nine months of the year was SEK7.66bn compared to a full year operating profit for the whole of 2015 of SEK6.6bn, prompting Volvo Cars’ expectations for the full year to move from an “improvement” to a “substantial improvement” in profit compared to last year.

 

“With nine months of the year completed, I can state with confidence that Volvo Cars is on track for another record year in terms of sales and that operating profit for the year is expected to improve substantially,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive.

 

Volvo Cars attributed the strong third quarter performance to robust sales in major markets of both lifecycle models and new models. The bestselling cars in the quarter were two lifecycle cars, the XC60 SUV and V40 hatchback, with sales of 38,000 and 23,000 respectively, closely followed by the new XC90 SUV with sales of 22,000. Sales of the XC90 hit 66,000 for the first nine months of the year.

 

Overall, third quarter retail sales increased 7.8 per cent to 122,766 compared to the same period last year, with sales in China and the US both up over 20 per cent in the period. Full details of the company’s operational and financial performance can be found here.

 

At the same time as Volvo Cars is growing in terms of sales and profitability, it is also continuing to unveil an all new range of cars.

 

In the third quarter of 2016, it was possible for the first time for customers to purchase any of Volvo Cars’ top-of-the-range 90 series cars. There are good signs that the success of the XC90 SUV is being followed by strong demand for the S90 sedan and V90 estate.

 

Another significant development in the third quarter was Volvo Cars’ move to entrench its position as a leader in autonomous driving by forging two important alliances.

 

The first was with Uber, the US online ride hailing company. Volvo Cars is the first car maker to work with Uber to develop base cars to provide driverless ride hailing services. “It is highly significant that of all the car companies in the world, Uber joined forces with Volvo Cars,” said Mr Samuelsson.

 

The second is the establishment of a new joint venture company with Autoliv, the Swedish automotive safety technology company, to develop and sell software for autonomous driving cars.

 

“Volvo Cars will no longer be purely a car maker but increasingly a software developer responding to important technological changes in the automotive industry,” said Mr Samuelsson.

 

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Volvo Car Group in 2015

For the 2015 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 6,620 MSEK (2,128 MSEK in 2014). Revenue over the period amounted to 164,043 MSEK (137,590 MSEK). For the full year 2015, global sales reached a record 503,127 cars, an increase of 8 per cent versus 2014. The record sales and operating profit cleared the way for Volvo Car Group to continue investing in its global transformation plan.

 

About Volvo Car Group

Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 503,127 in 2015 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.

 

As of December 2015, Volvo Cars had almost 29,000 employees worldwide. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).

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