ISTANBUL

Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars' shares climbed more than 33% Thursday after the company's profits came above market expectations in the third quarter.

For the July–September period, Volvo Cars, which is owned by China’s Geely Holding, reported operating income of 6.4 billion Swedish kronor ($680.4 million), significantly exceeding analysts’ projections and up from $616 million the previous year, according to Volvo's financial results released on Thursday.

The firm's third-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin was 7.4%, up from 6.2% at the same time last year.

Volvo said the upbeat results were due to certain one-off items, but a large contributor to the improvement was the effect of the company’s ongoing $1.9 billion cost-saving program.

"The action plan delivered faster than planned reductions in variable and indirect costs during the quarter," it said in a statement.

However, the carmaker's revenues for the third quarter came in at $9.1 billion in the third quarter, down from $9.8 billion in the June-September period of 2024.

The company saw third-quarter retail sales of 160,514 cars, also down 7% from the same period of 2024.

"But the company returned to a modest retail sales growth in September, boosted by all-time high performances in the UK and other markets such as Austria, Türkiye, Canada, Brazil and Mexico," it noted.

The firm stated that despite a solid performance, the third quarter results continue to reflect the ongoing turbulence in the global economy and a challenging market environment.

"Throughout the quarter, Volvo Cars’ performance continued to be under pressure due to a shrinking total premium market and tough competition, especially in the fully electric segment," Volvo added.