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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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TRAVEL NEWS

Stockholm’s Bromma Airport’s future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

The future of Stockholm's second airport, Bromma, is in doubt after regional airline BRA struck a deal with SAS that will move nearly all flights to Arlanda Airport.

Stockholm's Bromma Airport's future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

As of January 1st, BRA will operate flights on behalf of SAS with Stockholm’s principal airport Arlanda as a hub, the two airlines announced in separate press releases.

As a result, around 90 percent of air traffic will disappear from Bromma airport, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t think the airport will survive without us,” Per G Braathen, president of the BRA airline, told a press conference.

“We have been present at Bromma for 25 years and it is not profitable to run this airport. We need to concentrate on Arlanda,” he added.

The deal with SAS extends for over seven years and is worth around six billion kronor (530 million euros), BRA said in a statement.

The airline added that its fleet would be expanded and “more pilots and cabin crew will be recruited”, while ground services and administrative functions would be reduced.

The integration of BRA’s fleet with SAS will enhance Swedish infrastructure but is also “positioning Arlanda as a stronger central hub for domestic and international travel”, SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement.

Jonas Abrahamsson, CEO of Swedavia which operates Sweden’s airports, said that Tuesday’s announcement meant that domestic flights would now be concentrated on Arlanda.

“Bromma in principle will be without scheduled services,” Abrahamsson said in a statement.

He added that while many travellers liked Bromma, “a consolidation of air traffic to Arlanda is a natural development”.

Bromma Airport will lose its biggest air traffic operator from the turn of the year. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The city of Stockholm wants to close Bromma airport as soon as possible to make way for housing and infrastructure, but Swedavia has a contract to operate the airport until 2038.

Daniella Waldfogel, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement and said it meant that the closure of Bromma should be “moved forward”.

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