If the Ukraine war ends this year, Micael Johansson dare not predict. But even if it does, he expects many countries' defense expenditures to continue to increase.
One must be able to defend oneself and have a deterrent effect. So I believe the growth in the market will continue, he says and continues:
I assume we must also help Ukraine build up its own defense capability and deterrent effect. So many efforts will be needed for that.
"Difficult to speculate"
In addition, there are US President Donald Trump's repeated demands that each NATO country should allocate five percent of GDP to defense expenditures, up from the current target of two percent.
Therefore, Saab is now raising its long-term plan to grow by 18 percent per year. And the profit is expected to increase even more.
Will the Ukraine war end this year?
It's incredibly difficult to speculate. There is, of course, some kind of exhaustion situation. I can only pick up what I read in the media and see that there is some kind of interest in a discussion, says Micael Johansson.
The share falls
Saab made an operating profit of 1.95 billion kronor for the fourth quarter of 2024, half a billion more than the same period last year. It was slightly worse than the analysts' expectations, which according to Bloomberg's compilation expected a profit of 1.99 billion Swedish kronor.
The share price also fell clearly, four percent down when the Stockholm Stock Exchange opened.
Revenues rose significantly, to 20.9 billion kronor, from 16.1 billion kronor, and the order intake fell to 17.6 billion kronor, from 31.5 billion kronor a year earlier. On an annual basis, the order intake has increased by 24 percent to a total order backlog of 187 billion kronor.
The board proposes a dividend to shareholders of 2 kronor per share, which can be compared to the dividend last year of 1.60 kronor per share.
