Sweden

Sweden's central bank could cut rates as early as the first half of this year, but there are risks that inflation might prove stubborn, delaying policy easing, the minutes of the central bank's most recent meeting, published on Wednesday, showed, Reuters reported. The Riksbank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 4.00% on Feb. 1, but said it could start loosening policy much earlier than its previous forecast.

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would file a second amended chapter 11 plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday and said it had obtained the support of the unsecured creditors' committee, Reuters reported. The company said it expected about $325 million to be allocated to general unsecured creditors as part of the amended plan, consisting of up to $250 million in cash and $75 million in new equity.

Swedish electric motorcycle company Cake has filed for bankruptcy, Tech.eu reported. Founded in 2017, the company designs and manufactures high-performance electric on and off-road motorcycles. It has released five adult motorcycles and one child’s bicycle, with a wide variety of users and applications, including commercial use for last-mile delivery and other short-haul urban transportation. It has sold about 6000 bikes. It opened a 2800-square-metre factory in Sweden in 2020 and planned an additional factory in the US.

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.