In line with the significantly deteriorated global situation and the Ukraine war, the defense sector and Saab have now become winners on the stock exchange. The share has soared more than 300 percent over the past three years and has been embraced by an increasing number of small investors, now around 166,000 just at Avanza. Moreover, several major asset managers who previously rejected defense stocks have chosen to include these companies in their holdings, which has contributed to lifting the price.
High activity
The company's operating profit landed at nearly 1.5 billion kronor for the period, an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year. Moreover, the company's strongest first quarter ever.
— It's a stable quarter, clearly. There is high activity on the market with orders that enable us to deliver a good order intake, says CEO Micael Johansson in Dagens industri's TV broadcast.
The company's order backlog increased during the quarter by 19.1 billion kronor following, among other things, two major orders from Latvia and the German air force.
Several campaigns
Micael Johansson highlights in the report that they are conducting several campaigns for the sale of the Gripen fighter jet and "are proud to have been selected by Thailand and Colombia to initiate negotiations on the purchase of fighter jets".
Despite the uncertainty in the world, the management is sticking to its full-year forecast, where, among other things, the operating result is expected to increase more than the organic sales growth, which is expected to increase by between 12 and 16 percent. A potential escalation of a trade war could, however, affect the company, admits the CEO.
— There are several aspects, it's clear that it's never good with trade wars, but in our industry and for Saab's part, we are very regionalized. It's not like we have a "hub" somewhere in the world. This has not led to any decisions to relocate operations, says the CEO.
