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Saab shares crash on lower forecast

Swedish aerospace giant Saab announced on Thursday that it was lowering its sales outlook for 2008, sending its shares tumbling 20 percent on the Stockholm stock exchange.

The company cut organic sales expectations from 5 percent down to 3- 4 percent, and also shaved a percentage point or two off forecasts for its operating margins.

The company now projects 2008 operating margins of 8-9 percent, rather than the 10 percent growth forecasted earlier.

“Different factors have had and continue to have an adverse impact on Saab, mainly through delays in order intake for major international projects and uncertainties in respect of Swedish defence material spending,” the company said in a statement.

Saab also cited higher than expected marketing costs for its Gripen aircraft, as well as delays in commercial aircraft orders and weaker development for its technology business in South Africa as reasons for the reduced outlook.

Saab shares finished the day down 19.5 percent, closing at 128.75 kronor ($19.51).

FINANCE

Stockholm stock exchange suffers worst day of 2018

The Stockholm stock exchange plunged by 2.8 percent on Thursday, making it the worst trading day of 2018.

Stockholm stock exchange suffers worst day of 2018
File photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TT
Stock markets across Europe suffered for the third day in a row as the arrest of a top Huawei executive in Canada has raised the spectre of an all-out trade war between the US and China.
 
For the Stockholm Stock Exchange, it meant a blood-red trading day that ended as the worst of the year thus far. The OMXS Stockholm 30 index fell by a combined 2.8 percent.
 
The majority of the companies on the index lost value, with the exception of Ericsson, which seemed to benefit from the news about its Chinese competitor Huawei with a 1.8 percent increase. Airline SAS also saw its stock increase, rising 4.2 percent thanks to sharp declines in oil prices. 
 
Among Thursday’s biggest losers was the mining company Boliden, which suffered a 6.1 percent drop. The stock of the Stockholm-based tech company Hexagon fell 5.6 percent.
 
Meanwhile, the stock of Swedish auto safety equipment manufactor Autoliv fell 6.1 percent on the news that it expects to pay some 1.8 billion kronor in fines as a result of an European Commission investigation into anti-competitive behavior in the EU. 
 
Stockholm was far the only European bourse to have a gloomy Thursday. The CAC index in Paris fell 3.3 percent, the DAX index in Frankfurt dropped 3.5 percent and the London Stock Exchange's FTSE index decreased by 3.2 percent.
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