Sweden

The head of Scandinavian airline SAS, opens new tab criticised the European Commission on Monday for taking a "cautious" approach to consolidation in the industry at a time when the EU is adding to the cost of flying, Reuters reported. Anko van der Werff, whose long-struggling carrier is the largest in Scandinavia, listed the European Union's flagship scheme to help curb greenhouse gas emissions as among the reasons why the EU "clearly wants flying to be more expensive".

Scandinavian airline SAS AB will cancel and redeem all of its common shares and commercial hybrid bonds when it emerges from chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. around June, Bloomberg News reported. “SAS reiterates its expectation that there will be only a modest recovery for general unsecured creditors, no recovery for subordinated creditors and no value for SAS AB’s existing shareholders,” the carrier said in a statement released at 11 p.m. Stockholm time on Tuesday.

Sweden’s housing starts probably reached a new low last month as struggling home builders are continuing to postpone and cancel new projects, Bloomberg News reported. New home construction has fallen by 68% from a peak in August 2021, with a decline of 4.7% on month in December, an indicator published Wednesday by data provider Byggfakta Group showed. Previous months’ outcomes were also revised lower when factoring in new information on project cancellations, suggesting that a stabilization in activity is reversed.

Swedish retail bank Resurs Holding AB plunged to a record low after posting a surprise fourth-quarter loss on souring consumer loans in its home market and neighboring Finland, Bloomberg News reported. The lender’s preliminary report, which came about a week ahead of earnings by the major Nordic banks, pointed to an operating loss of 335 million kronor ($32 million) in the final three months of 2023, according to a statement. Analysts had penciled in an operating profit of 175 million kronor.

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.