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SAAB

Defence concern Saab lowers annual forecast

Swedish aerospace and defence concern Saab reported higher net income for the third quarter, but warned that operating income will be lower for the year as it embarks on restructuring to cut costs.

Defence concern Saab lowers annual forecast

The company reported net income of 188 million kronor ($27.98 million) in the third quarter from 111 million kronor in the same period last year. Sales dipped to 5 billion kronor from 5.18 billion kronor in 2009, while order bookings rose to 3.86 billion kronor from 3.29 billion during the quarter.

“Our underlying profitability for the full year 2010 will be about the same level as 2009, whereas our reported operating income will be lower, so we have changed our outlook for 2010,” President and CEO Håkan Buskhe said in a statement.

Earlier, the company had said it remained cautious about order intakes and predicted sales and profitability would stay at about the same levels as 2009, adding its long-term financial targets remain.

Instead, the company will now pursue restructuring measures to cut costs.

“In order to secure future performance, we are evaluating measures for product areas where we see low demand and will take steps to further reduce administrative costs. Due to changes in demand, we see a need to take structural actions in the fourth quarter,” Bushke said.

The further restructuring costs will amount to about 500 million kronor, according to Saab.

Saab shares fell sharply when trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange opened on Wednesday morning. By 9.20am, shares had declined 5.1 percent to 102 kronor.

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CARS

Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court

Swedish car maker Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson and the firm's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have appeared in court in Vänersborg in west Sweden, accused of falsifying financial documents shortly before the company went bankrupt in 2011.

Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court
Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson. Photo: Karin Olander/TT
The pair are accused of falsifying the paperwork at the height of the Swedish company's financial difficulties at the start of the decade.
 
A third person – who has not been named in the Swedish media – is accused of assisting them by issuing false invoices adding up to a total of 30 million kronor ($3.55m).
 
According to court documents, the charges relate to the firm's business in Ukraine and the paperwork in question was signed just before former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson resigned.
 
Both Jonsson and Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have admitted signing the papers but denied knowledge of the Ukranian firm implicated in the case.
 
All three suspects deny all the charges against them.
 

Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers. Photo:  Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
 
Saab filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2011, after teetering on the edge of collapse for nearly two years.
 
Chief prosecutor Olof Sahlgren told the court in Vänersborg on Wednesday that the alleged crimes took place in March 2011, when Saab was briefly owned by the Dutch company Spyker Cars.
  
It was eventually bought by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (Nevs), a Chinese-owned company after hundreds of staff lost their jobs.
 
The car maker, which is based in west Sweden, has struggled to resolve serious financial difficulties by attracting new investors since the takeover.
 
In October 2014 it announced it had axed 155 workers, close to a third of its workforce.
 
Since 2000, Saab automobile has had no connection with the defence and aeronautics firm with the same name. It only produces one model today, the electric 9-3 Aero Sedan, mainly targeting the Chinese market.