Dispute dents Volvo figures
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• Volvo's first-half profits fell by nearly 12% to £.351 million (SKr 3.8 billion) compared with the same period last year. Volvo says an industrial dispute in Sweden at the beginning of this year is distorting a good overall performance.
The truck market, however, has boomed, and the company has enjoyed a 25% increase in commercial vehicle profits. Demand was especially strong in Western Europe, Brazil and the US, says Volvo.
The bus division turned in a startling 79% increase in sales, mainly due to the purchase of Leyland Bus earlier in the year.
Volvo president Gunnar Johansson is bullish about the future and hopes to expand into the Japanese market through a distribution agreement with Fuji.
Johansson is quite prepared to take on the Japanese in the import-export battle. We have to be in favour of free trade," he says, "but we are not going to be good boy scouts and accept everything if the rest of the world is not doing so."