STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - AB Volvo (ST:VOLVb) on Thursday hiked its growth outlook for North America and Europe, as upbeat deliveries for trucks and construction equipment as well as continued easing of supply-chain bottlenecks helped the Swedish truckmaker top estimates.
Operating profit for the maker of trucks, construction equipment, buses and engines rose to 15.11 billion Swedish crowns (£1.30 billion) from 12.34 billion a year ago and beat the 13.34 billion forecast by analysts according to Refinitiv.
Volvo, the world's second-largest truckmaker behind Daimler (DE:DAIGn), said it had entered into a strategic partnership with Samsung (KS:006400) to develop battery packs for its electric trucks, its second big deal in recent weeks.
The company, which joined forces with Nvidia Corp (O:NVDA) last month to develop artificial intelligence used in self-driving trucks, is locked in a race with its peers to deliver autonomous and electric trucks.
This battle comes even as rising geopolitical tensions and signs of economic slowdown ignited concerns that the combustion truck cycle may have peaked.
Although Volvo on Thursday hiked its truck market demand for Europe and North America for 2019, its order intake of trucks, which sell under brands Volvo, Mack, Renault (PA:RENA) and UD Trucks, fell for a second consecutive quarter by 21% to 47,821 units.
"Production will be adapted during the second half of the year," Chief Executive Martin Lundstedt said in a statement.