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Bloomberg
Scandinavia’s main carrier SAS AB warned shareholders it will need to generate more funding to see it through the crisis triggered by Covid-19.
The company has halted most of its traffic and started a process to cut 5,000 jobs, it said. SAS is in “ongoing and constructive discussions†with its “largest owners on a recapitalisation plan to secure adequate levels of funding and equity for the future,†it said.
Shares in SAS plunged about 15% when trading started in Stockholm, with the company’s market value down almost 40% this year.
Like other airlines across the world, SAS has had to dramatically scale back its business as lockdowns and border closures triggered by Covid-19 bring air travel to a near standstill. Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA lost about $330 million before tax last quarter, it said on Thursday, as it struggles to stay afloat through the crisis.
Norwegian has lost about 90% in market value this year; Thursday’s news drove its share price down as much as 12%.
SAS has already received some financial support from Scandinavian governments, which own just under a third of its shares. But more is needed to keep the company afloat. Talks around a recapitalisation plan are under way, and any solution will require its financial stakeholders having to take “burden sharing measures,†SAS said.