Volvo Q4 net income increased to 4.82 billion Swedish kronor
Staff Writer |
Volvo Group reported that its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company for the fourth-quarter significantly increased to 4.82 billion Swedish kronor from the prior year's 2.59 billion kronor.
Article continues below
Earnings per share improved to 2.37 kronor from 1.27 kronor last year. The prior year earnings were negatively impacted by credit losses in China amounting to 158 million kronor in Volvo CE.
For the full year 2016, the Board proposes a dividend of 3.25 kronor per share, compared to 3.00 kronor per share the preceding year.
Adjusted operating income for the fourth-quarter amounted to 5.66 billion kronor up from 4.57 billion kronor in the previous year. The adjustment in the latest-quarter refered to a capital gain from the sale of real estate amounting to 1.37 billion kronor, impacting segment Trucks by 71 million kronor,Buses by 41 million kronor and Group functions and other by 1.258 billion kronor.
The higher adjusted operating income was primarily an effect of higher service earnings, improved earnings in Volvo CE, a positive market mix with higher truck volumes in Europe and lower material costs compared to Q4 2015.
This was partly off -set by lower volumes and capacity utilization in North America and higher costs for R&D as a result of lower capitalization.
Favorable currency movements compared to the same quarter last year had a positive impact of 336 million kronor.
Quarterly net sales increased by 4% to 82.6 billion kronor from last year's 79.6 billion kronor. But, adjusted for currency movements and acquired and divested units sales decreased by 1%.
Vehicle sales decreased by 3% adjusted for currency movements. The decrease was primarily an effect of the slowdown in the North American truck market, which was partly counterbalanced by improving demand for the Group's products in Europe and Asia. Adjusted for currency movements, service sales increased by 3%, reflecting good utilization in the installed truck population in most markets.
Total net orders increased by 10%to 53,950 trucks in the fourth-quarter 2016, compared to last year, and deliveries declined by 10% to 50,489 trucks.
In Japan, demand grew with around 5% in 2016 for both heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks. The Japanese market for 2017 is expected to be on about the same level as in 2016. ■