Airline SAS sees growing loss in the first quarter, shares slide 13%

• The company's full-year result was dented by higher jet-fuel costs, unfavorable currency movements and a strike.
• It said that an uncertain economic outlook and a slowdown in key economies will negatively impact customer demand ahead.

Scandinavian airline SAS said on Thursday it expected growing losses and challenging market conditions in the first quarter of next year, sending its shares sharply lower despite a rise in fourth-quarter profit.

SAS shares were down 13% in early trade.

The company's full-year result was dented by higher jet-fuel costs, unfavorable currency movements and a strike. It said that an uncertain economic outlook and a slowdown in key economies will negatively impact customer demand ahead.

"The continued weakness of the Swedish and Norwegian krona against the U.S. dollar and the euro also remains a challenge," SAS said in the report.

A man paints new lines behind the tails of two of Scandinavian airline (SAS) Boeing 737 aircrafts parked at Terminal 4 at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden.

JOHAN NILSSON | AFP | Getty Images