Tom Johnstone, President and CEO:

"SKF delivered a very strong result in the quarter with better volume and higher manufacturing levels resulting in an operating margin of 11.8%. Demand developed positively during the quarter particularly within the automotive business which adversely affected our price/mix. We saw a very positive development of our business in Asia and Latin America and some improvement in North America. However, Europe still remains weak if we exclude our automotive business.

Going forward into the second quarter we expect demand to be significantly higher than the same quarter last year and slightly higher sequentially. As a result of this demand picture we increased our manufacturing as the first quarter progressed which gave a good effect on our cost absorption, particularly in March. We will keep this manufacturing level during the second quarter."




Note: some of these key figures were already published on 16 April 2010.





The decrease of 2.7% in net sales for the quarter, in SEK, was attributable to:

volume 5.3%, price/mix -0.3% and currency effects -7.7%.



The quarter included expenses for restructuring activities of around SEK 90 million, mainly impacting the Industrial Division.



Outlook for the second quarter of 2010


Sales development compared to second quarter last year

The demand for SKF products and services is expected to be significantly higher for the Group in total. In Europe and North America it is expected to be higher and in Asia and Latin America significantly higher. It is expected to be slightly higher for the Industrial Division and significantly higher both for the Service Division and Automotive Division.

Sales development compared to the first quarter 2010

The demand is expected to be slightly higher for the SKF Group in total. In Europe and North America it is expected to be slightly higher and in Asia and Latin America higher. For both the Industrial Division and Service Division it is expected to be slightly higher and for the Automotive Division higher.

Manufacturing level

The manufacturing level will be significantly higher year on year and higher compared to the average of the first quarter 2010.

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