OSLO (Reuters) -Truck maker AB Volvo reported record first-quarter profits as revenue and margins rose, a preliminary filing showed late on Tuesday, in a sign the Swedish company had begun to overcome bottlenecks and inflation that hampered the industry.
The group’s adjusted January-March operating profit rose 45% year-on-year to 18.4 billion Swedish crowns ($1.76 billion), exceeding the mean expectation of 12.9 billion crowns in a Refinitiv poll of analysts.
Volvo and rivals such as Germany’s Daimler Truck and Traton have struggled with semiconductor shortages and broader supply chain issues and strained freight capacity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Volvo’s preliminary net sales for the quarter stood at 131.4 billion crowns, up from 105.3 billion a year ago, while analysts on average predicted 118.6 billion according to the poll.
The company’s adjusted operating margin rose to 14.0% from 12.0% a year ago, and earnings at the group’s two major divisions, truck making and construction equipment, both showed progress compared to the same quarter of 2022.
($1 = 10.4303 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Tom Hogue)
