Sweden’s underlying inflation rate fell less than expected in December, suggesting the country’s central bank has some way to go before it can start monetary easing that would aid an ailing economy, Bloomberg News reported. A measure that strips out energy costs and the effect of interest-rate changes rose 5.3% from a year ago in December, according to a release from Statistics Sweden on Monday. While that marks a marginal retreat from November, prices increased slightly more than projected by economists, who had penciled in a 5.2% rise in a survey by Bloomberg.

Swedish streaming service Viaplay Group AB has stepped back from the brink of bankruptcy after getting approval for a rescue plan that will leave existing shareholders holding stock that is near worthless, Bloomberg News reported. Viaplay, which owns rights to sports broadcasting in the Nordic region, Netherlands and the Baltics, will see Vivendi SE-owned Canal+ and Czech investment firm PPF Group take a combined 58.6% stake in the group as part of the recapitalization.

The volume of commercial property transactions in the Nordic region fell to the lowest level in a decade last year, in an ominous sign for landlords needing to offload assets to bolster their finances, Bloomberg News reported. In 2023, only €20 billion ($21.9 billion) of properties traded hands in the region, property adviser Colliers International Group Inc said in an emailed statement. Activity tumbled by 64% in Finland compared with a year earlier, while volumes in Norway, Sweden and Denmark slumped by slightly more than half.

Swedish landlord Oscar Properties should enter bankruptcy proceedings after failing to uphold a settlement agreement with a creditor, according to a statement, Bloomberg News reported. The creditor in question is Brf Innovationen, a housing cooperative that owns one of the two flagship residential towers in Stockholm built by Oscar Properties. Oscar Properties plans to refute the claim. “The board is continuously evaluating the options to ensure the continued operations of the company, and is in discussions with Brf Innovationen and other creditors,” it said.

Swedish bankruptcies jumped 29% in 2023 to the highest level since the 1990s, when the bursting of a property bubble crippled the Nordic nation’s banking system, Bloomberg News reported. This may just be the tip of the iceberg in the wake of persistently high inflation and interest rates, according to UC, a credit reference agency that compiled the data. In December, bankruptcies increased overall by 23% from a year earlier, it said.

Hovding AB, a Swedish company that has made headlines for the first mass-market bicycle airbag helmet, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after regulators stopped the sales of its main product, Bloomberg News reported. The decision comes after the Swedish Consumer Agency forced a complete halt of all sales of the Hovding 3 helmet on Dec. 15, due to concerns that it wouldn’t inflate properly on impact.

Sweden’s core inflation hit the lowest level since May last year, reinforcing a brighter view on price increases after the country’s central bank halted an 18-month campaign of interest-rate hikes last month, Bloomberg News reported. Prices excluding energy and interest-rate changes rose by 5.4% from a year earlier, a release from Statistics Sweden showed Thursday. That was clearly lower than the 5.9% expected by both the Riksbank and economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Sweden-based Nilar International AB filed for insolvency on Dec. 1 and has appointed Lars Nylund, an attorney for Advokatfirman Fylgia, as trustee in the bankruptcy, PV-Magazine.com reported. “The trustee is continuing the company’s operations with the aim of finding a new owner for the business,” the company said on its website.

Airline SAS AB received approval from a bankruptcy court in New York for a $1.2 billion rescue package that will see Air France-KLM and private equity firm Castlelake LP become owners in the Scandinavian flag-carrier, Bloomberg News reported. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, saying it faced a significant decline in passenger demand during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a series of pilot strikes and intense competition from low cost air carriers.

Swedish landlord SBB’s offer to buy back some of its bonds at steep discounts may be tantamount to a default, according to a statement from S&P Global Ratings, Bloomberg News reported. The ratings agency placed Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB, as it is otherwise known, on watch for a possible downgrade to selective default in a statement Friday. S&P said it would be able to assess further once the final results of the buyback were published.