In a presentation entitled ‘What happens next?’ the president and chief executive of Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) Tony Helsham has stated that the company is well positioned to benefit from the continued strong growth of countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC).
Mr. Helsham, speaking on June 5th to an audience of 100 leading international trade press journalists, said: “Although growth has slowed in North America and Europe we still see over two thirds of the global construction equipment industry continuing to expand. Because of this I believe the industry has a much more positive outlook than it would have had at a similar point in previous business cycles.”
With the addition of its new road machinery range and the introduction of the acquired low cost range of Chinese-made SDLG wheel loaders into emerging economies, Mr. Helsham said he believed that Volvo CE was ‘particularly well placed’ to capitalize on the continued growth in these markets. Citing figures showing the massive infrastructure investments India, China and Russia alone are planning, he commented: “These product additions to our offering open up a new customer base and are destined to be transformational for Volvo CE’s business as a whole,” Mr. Helsham commented.
Good times… and not so good times
Volvo CE, the third largest manufacturer in the industry, has proven adept at growing consistently throughout the last two cycles, in which sales and profits have both quadrupled in that period, along with an expansion of its product range, market share and geographic reach. With the addition of its new range of road machinery and the acquisition of the ‘value’ SDLG brand of Chinese construction equipment for developing markets, Volvo CE is again well placed to maintain its growth whatever the prevailing economic conditions.
“There are dangers out there,” Mr. Helsham warned. “Oil and steel cost increases are putting pressure on us to increase prices on our products.” Mr. Helsham continued: “After years of struggling to keep up with extraordinary growth we as an industry should use this period of relative calm to consolidate our gains and concentrate on improving operational efficiency,” he advised.
June 2008
For further information, please contact:
Brian O’Sullivan
External Communications
Volvo Construction Equipment
Avenue du Hunderenveld 10
B-1082 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: int + 44 77333 50307
Fax: int + 32 2675 1777
email: osullivan@se10.com