Mubasher: Sweden's Volvo Car Group on Thursday reported a 39.8% year-on-year jump in its net income in the second quarter of 2018, registering 2.99 billion Swedish Krona (SEK) ($330 million), driven by a strong growth in global retail sales.

The Gothenburg-headquartered company’s net revenues rose 26.9% to SEK 66 billion ($7.38 billion) in Q2-18, compared to Q2-17, as retail sales rose 14.6% to 170,232 cars.

The operating profits surged 28.6% to a record high of SEK 4.2 billion in the period between April and June, compared to SEK 3.2 billion in the same period last year.

Operating profit margin came at 6.4% in Q2-18, up from 6.3% during the same quarter last year.

In the first half of 2018, Volvo posted a 1.7% year-on-year rise in net income to SEK 5.55 billion, after “[launching its S60], as well as [opening] a plant in the US, creating a truly global footprint for the first time,” the Swedish car manufacturer’s CEO VolvoHåkan Samuelsson said.

The company also generated SEK 122 billion in H1-18, 23.6% higher than SEK 99.4 billion in H1-17, with a retail sales increase of 14.4% to 317,639 cars

The global passenger car market will continue to grow in 2018, with the premium segment to sustain expanding, Volvo Cars predicted.

“We [expect] continued growth in revenue and retail sales supported by our renewed product portfolio,” the Swedish car maker said, noting that the profits will remain strong.

The construction of company’s first plant in the US and the launch of V60 and S60 are in their final phases, while capital expenditure will be lower compared to 2017.