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SAS shares plummet after analysts warn it risks going bankrupt

An analyst report predicting that SAS is on the brink of bankruptcy sent the Scandinavian airline's share plunging more than 25 percent.

a SAS flight
Photo: Tony Webster/Flickr.com

The dramatic fall came after analysts at Norwegian bank DNB updated their sell recommendation, noting that the company’s debts of 40 billion kronor ($4.35 billion) are “unsustainable” and that “restructuring” is “needed to avoid bankruptcy”.

Since the start of the pandemic the airline has lost around 80 percent of its market value.

While many of the Covid-19 restrictions that have plagued the airline industry have now been lifted, SAS ran into new troubles in recent days when a baggage handler strike in Copenhagen caused delays and cancelled flights.

In 2020, the ailing airline cut 5,000 jobs – representing 40 percent of its workforce – and in May 2021 announced a credit line of three billion kronor ($350 million) from the Danish and Swedish governments, its main shareholders, to get through the crisis.

The company has received billions in financial support from the Swedish and Danish state, the two main owners.

In October last year, the airline said it was fighting to change the company “so that we have a future”.

The company is scheduled to publish on February 22nd its earnings for the three months ending in December.

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NORTHVOLT

Toyota halts work at Swedish factory Northvolt after unexplained deaths

Toyota is temporarily pausing work for its service technicians at the Northvolt battery factory in northern Sweden after three people died under mysterious circumstances after shifts working at the factory.

Toyota halts work at Swedish factory Northvolt after unexplained deaths

“As an employer, we care about the safety of our employees,” Toyota’s head of HR, Annika Dörner, told Dagens Arbete.

“Based on the information we have received from Northvolt in Skellefteå, we as an employer have decided to carry out as little service and maintenance on site as possible.”

In the past six months, three men working at Northvolt passed away at home following shifts at the factory. Swedish police launched an investigation into the deaths this week to find out whether they’re just a coincidence, or whether the people in question may have been exposed to something while working.

Toyota’s technicians will carry out service work from the company’s own base in Skellefteå, Dörner said, while awaiting the results of the police investigation.

In a comment to Dagens Arbete, Mikael Stenmark, chief safety representative for metalworkers’ union IF Metall, criticised Toyota for pausing work on site.

“In this case Toyota has halted work without knowing if there’s a clear danger to life or health, and without knowing if there’s a risk. We can’t have a situation where companies react to rumours. We need to base these things on facts,” he told the newspaper.

“The consequence of this is that no one takes it seriously when it actually is dangerous.”

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