Shares of Volvo Cars rose sharply on Thursday after the company reported a jump in annual operating profit for the second quarter.
By 9:04 a.m. London time shares had rise by 7.11%. Core operating profit for the quarter came in at 8.2 billion Swedish kronor ($776 million), 28% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
This was the highest ever figure for one individual quarter, the carmaker said. The core figure excludes joint ventures and associates.
Global retail sales rose 15% year-on-year in the quarter, climbing to 205,400 cars, the carmaker said, noting that the jump was driven by a hike in sales of both hybrid and fully electric cars.
Altogether, electric vehicles and hybrid models accounted for 48% of the company’s global sales in the quarter, the company said.
Volvo has been doubling down on the EV market amid heating competition, as a bevy of Chinese auto makers push heavily into the sector. Tensions around higher tariffs on EVs imported from China have come to a head in recent months, with the U.S. hiking duties on the cars, while the European countries appear divided on how to tackle the issue.
Volvo Cars’ revenue dipped slightly in the second quarter, coming in at 101.5 billion Swedish kronor from 102.2 billion Swedish kronor over the same period of last year.
“We delivered a strong second quarter performance in 2024 with record underlying profitability, demonstrating our ability to create value despite a complex geopolitical and economic environment,” Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan said in a statement.
In the first quarter of 2024, Volvo Cars had reported a 2% year-on-year decline in revenue. First-quarter operating profit had come in at 6.8 billion Swedish kronor, while retail car sales amounted to 182,687.