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5
Leif Johansson
March 12, 2001
Operating margin*, %
3.0 4.5 4.7 5.4 4.7
96 97 98 99 00
96 97 98 99 00
Net sales*, SEK bn
76 92 115 125 130
96 97 98 99 00
Operating income*, SEK bn
2.3 4.1 5.4 6.7 6.2
which has the main part of its operations within the truck business, was successful in limiting
credit losses in North America and is today our fastest-growing business area. Construction
Equipment continues to show good earnings capacity despite a weaker demand in North
America. Aero, which continues to be stable, signed several important contracts with leading
manufacturers during the year.
In North America, the entire truck industry is facing problems in the form of large inven-
tories of used trucks and price pressures, which also affected Volvo Truck’s North American
operations, whose earnings were unsatisfactory. Since midyear Volvo Trucks has been con-
ducting a comprehensive profit improvement program to restore profitability, with substantial
effects in the autumn, including improved profitability in Europe. Truck operations are
achieving strong growth in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. The business climate in
North America was also difficult for buses, which is reflected in earnings.
A global base for future challenges
We have a very exciting time ahead of us, with new and strong brand names and an organiza-
tion that has a global presence and expertise. The integration of Mack and Renault V.I. has
begun in a positive atmosphere, which is very important for future
development. With the acquired units, we are approaching the sales volume
that the Volvo Group had before the sale of Volvo Cars, but with the sig-
nificant difference that the Volvo Group is now homogeneous. This gives us
benefits of scale that were not possible earlier and the Volvo Group is now
better equipped to develop competitive products and services in all business areas.
We look forward to continue to develop the Volvo Group, based on the new platform that
we have created. Our distinct ambition is to create profitable growth in all of the Volvo
Group’s business areas.
Our overall goal is to
create profitable growth in all our
business areas
* Excluding
divested operations