Europe’s biggest defense firms rise as wars rage
- BAE Systems shares rise 10%
- Similar gains at Saab, Rheinmetall, Thales and Leonardo
- Since the start of 2022, these stocks have risen between 93% and over 200%
More than £8 billion has been added to the value of five of Europe’s biggest defense firms since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7.
Shares in British giant BAE Systems rose 10% last week, while similar gains were seen in Sweden’s Saab, Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Thales Group and Italy’s Leonardo.
The value of BAE, Britain’s biggest defense company, rose by £3bn to £32.8bn.
Growth: Since early 2022, defense stocks have risen between 93 percent and over 200 percent
Rheinmetall, which is the world’s biggest munitions maker, added 1.3 billion pounds to its valuation, making it worth 10 billion pounds at the end of last week.
The rise in share prices – driven by expectations that the conflict will increase defense spending – adds to gains made since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Since the start of 2022, these stocks have risen between 93 per cent and over 200 per cent, adding more than £40 billion to their value.
Oil giants including BP and Shell also rallied as crude prices rose on concerns that a widening conflict could affect oil supplies from the Middle East.
Last week, Hamas launched its biggest military attack on Israel in decades, killing more than 1,000 people.
The attack triggered a wave of retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, which also killed more than 2,000 people.