Volvo’s First-Quarter Profit Rises on Higher Sales

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olvo AB reported its first-quarter profit surged 23% on higher sales, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The company’s first-quarter net income was 4 billion Swedish krona (about $530 million) or about $1.31 a share, from $430 million or $1.05 a year earlier, Chief Executive Officer Leif Johansson said.

Trucking companies are buying new trucks before European Union rules begin Oct. 1 and new diesel-emissions standards take effect in the United States next year, Bloomberg said.

Johansson boosted the company’s 2006 forecast for industrywide North American truck sales to as many as 350,000 trucks from an earlier forecast of 340,000, Bloomberg said.

He said new trucks meeting tighter U.S. environmental regulations in 2007 will sell for $5,000 to $10,000 more than their previous models, Bloomberg reported.

But the comapny, the parent of Volvo Trucks North America, is preparing for a downturn in the first quarter of next year, Johansson said.