Volvo Cars reports record H2 performance, driven by China, US

STOCKHOLM - Volvo Cars reported its best ever second-half profit and sales in 2020, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic earlier in the year, the company said on Thursday.

In a press release on Thursday, for the second half of 2020, the company reported revenue of 151 billion SEK ($17.9 billion), up by 4.9 percent compared with the same period of 2019 and an operating profit of 9.5 billion SEK, an increase of 8.2 percent compared with the same period of 2019.

The company said that such result was driven by strong demand for Volvo Cars' Recharge line-up of chargeable cars, as the company sold 391,751 cars in the second six months of 2020, an increase of 7.4 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

The release also showed for the full year of 2020, Volvo Cars reported revenue of 263 billion SEK, down by 4.1 percent year-on-year, and an operating profit of 8.5 billion SEK, down by 41 percent year-on-year. While its global sales reached 661,713 cars, a decline of 6.2 percent compared to 2019.

"We acted decisively to limit the impact of the pandemic," said Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Volvo Cars in the release. "After a safe restart of our operations, we recovered strongly and reported the best second half in the company's history. It is also promising to see the fast-growing demand for our Recharge line-up of chargeable cars, which we expect to continue in 2021."

In China and the United States, its two largest markets, the company reported growing sales for the full year as it managed to recover a pandemic-related sales drop in the first half during the second half of the year. In Europe, it reported a small second-half decline due to a sluggish overall market, according to the release.

Volvo Cars, acquired by Chinese automaker Geely in 2010, employed approximately 40,000 full-time employees as of December 2020.