The report shows that Volvo Penta´s successes continues, due to strong increases within all three of the companies business segments: Marine Leisure, Marine Commercial and Industry.
“Our products have been fantastically well-received in the market. The new marine diesel KAD300 for the leisure segment in particular has exceeded our expectations by a wide margin, and there is a strong demand also for our products in the markets” says Volvo Penta’s president Staffan Jufors.
Within Marine Leisure, Volvo Penta noted continued sales increases from previously high levels in Europe. The greatest increase, however, was attributable to the strong improvement in North America.
“We did exceptionally well in North America already last year, despite a sharp decline in the marine market overall. Now that the market is growing again, our strong market positions are having a very positive effect on sales and income,” continues Staffan Jufors.
Volvo Penta’s sales during the first quarter of 2002 were distributed by segment as follows (corresponding figures for the preceding year in parentheses):
| Marine Leisure | SEK 1,214 M | (1,116) |
| Marine Commercial | SEK 236 M | (197) |
| Industry | SEK 512 M | (423) |
| Total SEK | SEK 1,962 | (1,736) |
Volvo Penta also noted better result with respect to operating income during the first quarter. Despite this, Volvo Penta reported lower earnings than during the corresponding period last year, due to changes in accounting principles for the Volvo Group. The reported operating income amounted to SEK 146 M, compared with SEK 167 M during the preceding year.
“We continued to note record levels for both sales and income, which confirms our world-leading position in the industry. Despite the fact that earnings for accounting reasons were lower than the actual result, Volvo Penta during the first quarter was clearly the most profitable company in the Volvo Group in both relative and absolute terms,” concludes Staffan Jufors.
The Volvo Group´s total net sales during the first quarter of 2002 amounted to SEK 40,385 million compared to 43,750 the correspondent period the previous year. Net income amounted to SEK –746 compared with SEK –801 the year before.
The Volvo Group´s complete financial report is available on www.volvo.com
April 22, 2002