STOCKHOLM, July 17 (Reuters) - Swedish defence and aerospace group Saab reported a bigger-than-expected rise in operating earnings for the second quarter on Friday as booming demand in its major markets drove a sharp rise in sales and order bookings.
The maker of the Gripen fighter jet said in a statement that operating earnings rose to 2.79 billion Swedish crowns ($289 million) from 1.98 billion a year earlier, beating the 2.48 billion crown mean forecast in an LSEG poll of analysts.
Saab, which also
makes military equipment ranging from missiles and advanced electronics to submarines, said like-for-like sales rose 29.8% year-on-year and that it remained focused on scaling up capacity to meet the surging demand.
Already riding consecutive years of surging demand driven by rapid rearmament across much of Europe due to Russia's war in Ukraine, the pace has picked up still further for Saab in recent months with a string of huge orders.
Saab is set to produce new Gripen E fighters to Ukraine and could see Brazil adding 20 more of the aircraft to its existing fleet while the company has also inked a $4.8 billion contract with Poland for three A26-type submarines.
Meanwhile, NATO announced plans to buy up to 10 of Saab's GlobalEye surveillance planes only weeks after Canada said it would buy a fleet of the aircraft which is based on a Bombardier jet. Saab is also in the running to sell Canada Gripen fighters.
"With our broad offering and rapidly expanding production capacity, we are well positioned to meet this growing demand," Saab CEO Micael Johansson said.
($1 = 9.6637 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, editing by Essi Lehto)
