It's going well for the defense company Saab, which is reporting a doubled order intake – and its second strongest quarter ever.
It's not without growing pains here and there as you handle such growth, says CEO Micael Johansson, who sees bright prospects for Jas Gripen.
Saab continues to see high demand in several areas.
It's fun to see how attractive our systems are on the market, says Saab CEO Micael Johansson.
The operating profit for the second quarter increases by 25 percent to 1.3 billion kronor. Sales increased by 22 percent to 15.2 billion kronor and order intake more than doubled to 39.6 billion kronor.
It's not a single large order, but many orders – smaller and slightly larger, says Micael Johansson.
Continued demand
The company continues to expand its capacity, including by hiring more employees. Additionally, several new facilities are being built, for example in India and also in the USA.
But we can't just hire more people. We also need to think about how we grow so that we produce things in a more automated way and optimize our operations.
Micael Johansson sees continued demand for at least the next ten years.
Not only should we continue to support Ukraine to win this war, but they should also build up their own capability and their own stockpiles. So demand will be high going forward as well.
"Great interest"
The same applies to the fighter jet Jas Gripen, according to Micael Johansson. Among other things, Thailand is to renew its aircraft fleet and is currently looking at Sweden.
Then we have Colombia evaluating us and the Philippines starting their process. And we have Brazil, which already has Gripen E and wants to continue with it going forward, says Micael Johansson, adding:
There are some countries that are high on the agenda to continue with Gripen, there is great interest.
