Sweden's bearings maker expects growing demand in Asia and Latin America as world economy recovers.

 

Gothenburg-based SKF, the world's biggest bearings maker, made a 1.45 billion kronor ($193 million) second quarter net profit, up from 323 million kronor the same period last year, and said that demand is expected to increase during the coming quarter.

"Our sales developed positively in the quarter driven primarily by a continued strong automotive business and an improvement in the industrial business”, the company’s chief executive officer Tom Johnstone said as he posted second quarter earnings that were slightly higher than expectations.

Net sales increased almost 11 percent to 15.7 billion kronor during the period while its operating margins swelled from 3.4 percent to 14.3 percent.

SKF now predicts relatively unchanged demand for the automotive division and slightly higher demand for the industrial and service divisions.  Demand is expected to be unchanged in Europe, slightly higher in North America and higher in Asia and Latin America.

“In the third quarter we expect a continued good level of sales for the Group being significantly higher than last year. All regions and divisions will see good growth even if we expect lower sales to the car industry in Europe".