SAS Rules Out Lithuanian Airlines Buy
Published:
26 April 2003 y., Saturday
Scandinavian airline SAS AB has ruled out bidding for state-owned Lithuania Airlines, but is still looking to expand in the Baltic states, a company official told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday.
"We have decided not to go take part in the privatization of Lithuanian Airlines as the stake would have been too small for us to live up to our financial targets," SAS press officer Ulf Thorne told Dow Jones Newswires.
However, SAS is still looking for expansion in the region and is interested in acquiring a stake in partly state-owned Estonian Air. Talks with Danish carrier Maersk Air, a unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moeller A/S (K.MAP), about buying its 49% stake in Estonian Air, failed recently.
Thorne declined to reveal why talks failed, but said SAS remains interested in buying the stake.
Estonian Air is 34% state-owned. Estonian investment bank Baltic Cresco Investment Group owns 17%.
Unlike the weak markets in Scandinavia and Western Europe, "the markets in the Baltic region are fast growing and Estonian Air posted its strongest earnings ever last year," Thorne said.
Estonian Air posted a profit of EUR2.5 million in 2002, up from EUR1 million in 2001. Sales grew to EUR53.7 million from EUR51.1 million.
Šaltinis:
biz.yahoo.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The European Commission today concluded on the existence of excessive deficits in Cyprus, Denmark and Finland and recommended deadlines for their correction to the Council.
more »
Over 2000 former construction workers in Spain and nearly 600 ex-employees of Irish glass company Waterford Crystal and its suppliers will receive a total of €11 million in aid from the EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund to help with training, business start-ups and job guidance under plans agreed by MEPs and the Council of Ministers.
more »
MEPs on Tuesday decided six top priorities and a number of additional key issues for the upcoming negotiations on the 2011 budget.
more »
The EU-China Science and Technology Week starts today at the heart of World Expo Shanghai.
more »
European Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt agreed on Monday to explore a joint climate finance initiative for developing countries as part of the European Union commitment made at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen last December.
more »
Sustainability, competitiveness and security of energy supply: the three pillars to the foundation of a new EU energy community.
more »
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Palestinian Minister of National Economy Hasan Abu-Libdeh today discussed measures to enhance EU-Palestinian bilateral trade relations and to facilitate trade of Palestinian products to EU markets.
more »
Some of the most innovative and exciting transport research projects funded by the EU are being showcased at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) in Brussels this week.
more »
Nowadays we rely heavily on satellite positioning and navigation, but the only available technology is American.
more »
The European Commission will reveal how it aims to revamp its transport networks policy in response to the challenges of the 21st century at a conference dedicated to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Zaragoza on 8 and 9 June.
more »