In the second quarter, profitability continued to improve despite a slight decline in net sales. The improvement was driven by better pricing and successful execution of cost reductions, with indirect headcount reduced by 1,100 since the start of the program. We have settled cost compensation claims with a majority of
We continued to outperform LVP significantly in Asia excluding China and in Europe, fueled by product launches and better pricing. In Americas, we underperformed slightly, as some key customers reduced production.
We continue to expand our business with domestic Chinese OEMs, positioning us well to benefit from the new structure of the Chinese market. Domestic Chinese OEMs accounted for 38% of our China sales in Q2. We grew sales to this group by 39% in Q2 vs. a year ago, and by 25% vs. the previous quarter. However, the market developed unfavorably in Q2, with sales for certain brands and models with low Autoliv content growing strongly, while some of our key global customers production declined significantly, leading to 7pp underperformance in China.
We remain fully focused on delivering on the around 12% adjusted operating margin target, although we adjust our full year 2024 guidance slightly, reflecting changes in LVP and adverse customer mix. We continue to expect a significant increase in profitability in the second half year with an adjusted operating margin of around 11-12% compared to the first half year’s 8.0%. The positive development of our cash flow and balance sheet supports our continued commitment to a high level of shareholder returns.
customers and target to close most of the remaining claims in Q3. Return on capital employed was good and cash flow continued to be strong, supporting a high level of shareholder returns and an improvement of the leverage ratio to 1.2x.
We remain on track with our strategic and structural initiatives to sustainably strengthen our footprint and operations. However, light vehicle production with certain key customers following weaker sales and inventory adjustments were lower than expected in the quarter, especially in June. The lower than expected sales impacted our profitability with an operating leverage at the high end of our normal 20%-30% range.
It is encouraging that customer production plans for the third quarter are normalizing, indicating that the June weakness should be temporary.