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 financial and economic crisis has shown that reckless behaviour of banks and other financial institutions can have serious and costly consequences for Europe's economy and its people.
more »
Local services that create jobs and improve energy efficiency received a boost Thursday (2 September) when MEPs on the Industry, Research and Energy Committee approved plans for more investment.
more »
The European Commission approved the first financing decisions under the EUR 264 million 2010 allocation for the so-called Vulnerability FLEX mechanism to help the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries cope with the impact of the global financial crisis and economic downturn.
more »
The European Commission has today updated the list of airlines banned in the European Union to impose an operating ban on one air carrier from Ghana and to place operating restrictions on another air carrier from that country.
more »
The European Commission today approved an application from Denmark for assistance under the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF).
more »
Algirdas Šemeta, EU Commissioner for Taxation, Customs Union, Anti-Fraud and Audit, will open tomorrow an international conference at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 on building bridges to facilitate trade between China and the EU.
more »
Moldova is set to receive an EU grant of up to €90 million to help it through the financial crisis, following a vote at Parliament's Committee on International Trade on Monday.
more »
Important notice: since May 2010 business surveys data are classified in accordance with an updated version of the Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE rev. 2) causing a potential break in series at this date.
more »
75% of Europeans think that stronger coordination of economic and financial policies among EU Member States would be effective in fighting the economic crisis, according to the Spring 2010 Eurobarometer, the bi-annual opinion poll organised by the EU.
more »
The European Commission has extended until the end of the year the liquidity support scheme for banks in Slovenia.
more »