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Troubled SAS rejects bankruptcy rumours
Published: 28 Oct 12 09:07 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Scandinavian airline SAS has moved to quash rumours that it is facing bankruptcy and that banks are considering not extending loans to the troubled carrier.
"There has been speculation all autumn, there are new things almost everyday, but nothing is decided," said SAS communications head Knut Morten Johansen to the Norwegian website E24.no.
The media has been awash with reports that SAS is facing insolvency, that its banks were losing patience and that the company is set to be sold.
Johansen rejected the sale rumours, explaining that the speculation was "frustrating".
According to a report in the Dagens Industri business daily this week, the airline and its three major shareholders - the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish states - held meetings with its creditors to discuss the airline's future.
The Swedish state has invested some 2.4 billion kronor ($360 million) in the loss-making airline in the past three years, money which has long since been exhausted.
The airline posted losses of 1.69 billion kronor in 2011 and CEO Rickard Gustafsson pledged to accelerate the firm's cost-cutting programme, seeking five billion kronor in savings and new revenue in 2012.
According to the Dagens Industri report, the company's loan facilities expire in March 2013 and rumours that the banks were disinclined to extend the loans have persisted.
Rumours of a sell-off have been circulating since 2008, with Lufthansa long seen as the most probable buyer. A concrete bid has however never been tabled.
Any sale of the company is complicated by its ownership structure with Sweden, Norway and Denmark all required to agree any eventual sale.
Shares in loss-making airline SAS halted as rumours swirl
STOCKHOLM | Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:04am GMT
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Shares in loss-making airline group SAS (SAS.ST) were suspended on Tuesday after media reports that the airline was in financial difficulties, the Stockholm stock exchange said.
SAS, part owned by Sweden, Denmark and Norway, has not made a full-year profit since 2007 and reports have been rife in recent days the airline was struggling to find new financing.
"With reference to the news articles the last days concerning the company's financial situation,
the exchange has decided to halt the trading in shares," the Stockholm exchange said in a statement.
SAS declined to comment.
SAS has been struggling for years against fierce competition from cut-price rivals like Ryanair (RYA.I), industry overcapacity and more recently soaring jet fuel costs and an economic slowdown.
Years of cost cuts have improved the situation,
but it has not been enough and it has been forced to raise new capital twice in the last four years.
In the last few days media reports have suggested the airline's lenders were reluctant to extend financing for the company.
Reports have also suggested the airline was preparing an extensive new cost-cutting package to succeed its latest 4Excellence plan which aims for 5 billion crowns of cost cuts and revenue improvements by the end of next year.
SAS has consistently said that it is looking at efficiency measures but that nothing had been decided.
The airline publishes its third-quarter results on November 8.
Here's emergency plan to rescue SAS.
SAS forced to release secret report.
Tuesday morning trading in SAS shares halted after extensive media leaks about a bailout that would be in the offing.
The company states that right now is in the final stages of a comprehensive rationalization plan.
http://luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nl-NL/Articl ... _na_onrustSAS ceiling for crisis plan. SAS shares received tremendous buoyancy of the Oslo Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
SAS's share went to the roof of the Oslo Stock Exchange after the company presented a comprehensive emergency plan to save the company from bankruptcy.
The market apparently believes the plan, which sent the stock up 11 percent to 5.65 kroner per share. Shares were ready market winner.
SAS share is however around historically low levels, and have fallen steadily since 2007. When the stock was worth around 300.
Vandaag, 17:04 uur SAS kondigt winstcijfers vervroegd aan na onrust
STOCKHOLM - De Scandinavische luchtvaartgroep SAS heeft in het derde kwartaal een winst voor belastingen van 568 miljoen Zweedse kronen (66 miljoen euro) geboekt.
Dat maakte SAS dinsdag onverwacht bekend.
De presentatie van de kwartaalcijfers staat gepland voor 8 november,
maar SAS kwam vroegtijdig met de cijfers naar buiten na onrust over de financiële gezondheid van het bedrijf.
Media in Noord-Europese landen berichtten de afgelopen weken dat SAS er niet in slaagt om voldoende kosten te besparen.
Ook zou het bedrijf problemen hebben om leningen aan te gaan.
SAS herhaalde dinsdag in een verklaring dat er een aanvullend pakket aan maatregelen nodig is om de bedrijfskosten verder te drukken.
Een plan dat drie miljard kronen (350 miljoen euro) moet opleveren ligt momenteel ter goedkeuring bij de Raad van Bestuur, aldus SAS.
Ook wil SAS meer bedrijfsonderdelen afstoten, waarmee nog eens drie miljard kronen kan worden verdiend.
Volgens SAS zijn de inkomsten uit het passagiersvervoer in het derde kwartaal met negen procent gestegen ten opzichte van dezelfde periode vorig jaar.
Tegelijkertijd wist de maatschappij de kosten met zes procent terug te brengen. In die berekening zijn brandstof- en valutakosten niet meegenomen, zo stelt SAS in de verklaring.
De handel in aandelen SAS werd dinsdagmorgen op de Scandinavische effectenbeurzen tijdelijk stilgelegd.
Nadat SAS de verklaring had afgegeven, werd de handel hervat en steeg de koers.
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