SKF Q2 Pretax Hits Record, Sees Stronger Demand

Sweden's SKF reported record pretax profit and sales for the second quarter on Wednesday, beating analysts' expectations, and said it saw healthy demand growing still stronger.

SKF, the world's biggest bearings maker, reported pretax profit of 1.96 billion Swedish crowns ($295.3 million), up from 1.52 billion a year ago. That exceeded the highest estimate of 1.85 billion in a Reuters poll of 15 analysts and was well above the survey average of 1.77 billion.

"This looks good, both in terms of the outlook and the earnings, so this is very positive," Swedbank analyst Mats Liss said. "The share has been pretty much moving sideways lately, so I think it should probably head higher on this."

The firm, seen as a bellwether for the manufacturing sector due to its wide range of industrial customers, said sales rose to 14.96 billion crowns from 13.37 billion a year earlier, topping the 14.45 billion seen by analysts.

SKF and most of Sweden's top-flight engineering firms have enjoyed strong global demand over the past few years, not least due to rapid economic growth and industrialisation in the world's two most populous countries, China and India.

The group said it expected market demand in the third quarter to be higher than in the previous three months. "The demand is expected to be higher in Europe and Latin America, significantly higher in Asia and relatively unchanged in North America," the firm said.

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