Ukraine crisis prompts interest in military buys

April 27, 2014 by IPB

The Ukrainian crisis that has already prompted Sweden to consider raising military spending is boosting interest in military hardware in other European states, Saab AB Chief Executive Hakan Buskhe said.

“The number of questions about enhancing defense capabilities from a handful of nations in continental Europe and also in the Nordic area have increased,” Mr. Bushke said in an interview. “The discussion about possibilities is more active today than just a couple of months ago.”

David Wajgras, chief financial officer of Raytheon Co., the world’s largest missile maker, also said this week that several countries were considering higher levels of military spending, including Latvia and Lithuania.

The Swedish government said on Tuesday that spending on defense should raise an extra 5.5 billion kronor ($836 million) and be spent on items such as submarines and Gripen combat planes that Saab builds. The government’s position is “a major mind shift,” Mr. Buskhe said Friday, cautioning that “to turn that into activities for us will take some time.”

Saab generated about 70% of sales outside Sweden in the first quarter that saw net income fall 33% to 176 million Swedish kronor after revenue in the first three months fell 10% to 5.3 billion kronor, the Stockholm-based company said in a statement Friday.

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