Road equipment was among the Volvo products seeing higher demand in the first quarter.Following 2018, which Volvo Construction Equipment called its “strongest year ever,” the company is off to a strong 2019, according to its first-quarter results.
Net sales increased 15 percent for the quarter over 1Q 2018, the company reports.
It also reports a 26-percent hike in operating income and a 5-percent increase in machine deliveries. The operating margin—earnings before interest and taxes—rose from 13.8 percent to 15.1 percent.
In North America, the company saw 43-percent growth in net sales over 1Q 2018, with rising demand for large wheel loaders, road equipment and articulated dump trucks.
Europe saw 23 percent net sales growth; South America, 6 percent; and Asia, 3 percent. Africa and Oceania posted a 5 percent drop.
Last year, the company posted a 27 percent increase in sales, and a 21 percent rise in 4Q 2018.
Company President Melker Jernberg called the first-quarter results good for the global construction equipment market. He said the company is managing well the increase in sales and keeping costs down “to deliver encouraging levels of operating income and operating margin.”
