Volvo Group reported its latest financial results on Wednesday and highlighted slower sales in Europe due to a declining demand for trucks.
The car giant said in its latest fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings report that net sales came up to SEK 526.8 billion (€45.98bn) for the full year 2024, which was a fall from the SEK 552.3bn (€48.20bn) seen in 2023. This was mainly due to faltering truck demand in Europe.
Adjusted operating income for full year 2024 dropped to SEK 65.7bn (€5.73bn), down from SEK 78.2bn (€6.82bn) in 2023.
For the fourth quarter, net sales dropped 6% to SEK 138.4bn (€12.08bn), down from SEK 148bn (€12.91bn) in the fourth quarter of 2023. Adjusted operating income in Q4 2024 came up to SEK 14.0bn (€1.22bn), down from SEK 18.5bn (€1.61bn) in the corresponding period the previous year.
Volvo Group experienced slower construction and freight activity in several key markets, following these sectors stabilising after a few years of robust growth. Ongoing inflation and geopolitical uncertainty contributed to the company’s dampened results as well.
Martin Lundstedt, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Volvo Group, said in the fourth quarter and full year earnings report on the company’s website: “2024 was a year with substantial product launches across the Volvo Group and with a high pace in R&D spend, especially in Q4.
“We will continue our push to innovate, but expect gross R&D in 2025 to balance out slightly above the level of 2024. We also continued to streamline our portfolio to strengthen our core business and entered new partnerships and collaborations to continue to drive the transformation towards more efficient and carbon-neutral solutions.”
The company also announced an ordinary dividend of SEK 8.00 (€0.70) per share and an extra dividend of SEK 10.50 (€0.92) per share.
Volvo Cars takes full ownership of NOVO Energy AB
Volvo Cars also said on Wednesday that it would be buying Northvolt AB’s share in their joint venture NOVO Energy AB, thus acquiring full ownership of the latter. NOVO Energy AB was established to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In October, Volvo Cars revealed that it would be needing a new partner to ensure that plans for this factory go ahead as scheduled.
Price details for the sale of the stake have not been revealed yet, with the deal still subject to approval by relevant authorities.
Northvolt AB has been trying to sell most of its non-core businesses and joint ventures, in an effort to handle its ongoing financial woes. However, it has signed a framework with Volvo Cars to look at possible collaboration opportunities in North America down the line.
