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Volvo posts better-than-expected results despite supply issues

On Thursday, Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars on Thursday announced better-than-expected quarterly results despite supply chain problems linked to the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic.

Volvo posts better-than-expected results despite supply issues
Volvo's factory in Torslanda outside Gothenburg. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

The Gothenberg-based company, majority owned by China’s Geely Holding, said net profit rose to 3.9 billion Swedish kronor (380 million euros, $400 million) against 5.7 billion kronor a year earlier.

Its first-quarter operating profit fell to 6.0 billion kronor, while turnover rose 11 percent to 15.7 billion kronor, beating analyst forecasts.

A global shortage of semiconductors has forced Volvo and other carmakers to cut vehicle output despite robust demand.

The new Covid lockdowns in China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated the problem, Volvo said.

The Ukraine conflict “sent already rising inflation to new heights and further disrupted supply chains that were already fragile”, Volvo chief Jim Rowan said.

“Volvo Cars sold a total of 148,295 cars in the first quarter as the supply chain constraints affecting the company continued to slowly ease,” a statement said.

This was 37,000 fewer than the previous year.

“However, late in the quarter the company was hit by a shortage of a specific component, which will also impact production during the second quarter,” it added.

Volvo however underscored that this was “a temporary setback”, adding it expected “marginal growth in sales volumes for the full year 2022, compared to 2021, although uncertainty is high”.

Volvo sales in its main markets fell 26 percent in Europe, 21 percent in China and 16 percent in the United States.

However, the company, which aims to have an all-electric fleet of cars by 2030, said sales of rechargeable vehicles were rising and represented 34 percent of the total volume in the first quarter.

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Why North Korean hackers could leave Sweden short of alcohol this weekend

If you're thinking of quitting the booze, now may be a good time, as Sweden may run low on alcohol in just a few days.

Why North Korean hackers could leave Sweden short of alcohol this weekend

The reason? Problems down the distribution chain, as a result of a ransomware attack by a North Korean hacker group on Skanlog, a logistics firm that delivers to Sweden’s state-run alcohol monopoly Systembolaget, reports business site Dagens Industri.

Systembolaget confirmed to The Local that this may have a knock-on effect on supplies.

“This is one of our distributors, they deliver up to 25 percent of the alcohol. But we do have other suppliers as well, we have to scale up the deliveries. So I cannot say exactly what the shortage will look like in the stores,” Systembolaget press officer Sofia Sjöman Waas said.

Not only the weekend is coming up, but also Walpurgis Night on April 30th, a popular party day in university towns.

“It is too early to say what will happen. Small stores around the country have one delivery once a week and this might not affect you at all. Other stores have deliveries every day,” Sjöman Waas told The Local.

It’s unlikely that shelves will run completely dry, but some products – mostly wine, but also beer and liquor – may be out of stock.

“But in general our consumers don’t buy a lot. They come in, they buy a couple of bottles, and they consume it within a couple of days or a week,” said Sjöman Waas.

Article by Emma Löfgren and Gearóid Ó Droighneáin

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