“The first quarter of 2020 was impacted by the measures in society to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” opened CEO Martin Lundstedt in his comments regarding the Volvo Group’s latest results. ”These began affecting our operations in China in February and had a severe impact on the Group as of mid-March, when our global supply chain was disrupted and production halted in most parts of our operations.” 

”The reduced production and the lower demand impacted both the Group’s sales and profits negatively in Q1,” he continued. ”Net sales decreased by 15% to SEK 91.4 billion ($9 billion). Our adjusted operating income amounted to SEK 7.1 billion ($704 million) with a margin of 7.8%.”  One of Sweden’s biggest private sector employers with a global workforce of 100,000 – 20,000 of these based in Sweden – Lundstedt noted that approximately 50% or some 50,000 employees were on furlough.

Q1 results also included performance figures for Volvo Penta’s marine business, which began to weaken at the end of the period…

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