SKF First-quarter report 2009

SKF First-quarter report 2009  

Tom Johnstone, President and CEO:
“We saw a very significant drop in our sales volumes in the first quarter and
reduced our manufacturing level even more. The actions which we have put in
place to focus on profit and cash flow are having the right effect. Looking at
the second quarter we expect to see a similar level of decline in volume year on
year as we saw in the first quarter. However, we can see that the speed of
decline sequentially is reducing which indicates that demand may be leveling
out". 
	Q1	Q1
	2009	2008
Net sales, SEKm	14,849	15,596
Operating profit, SEKm	768	2,040
Operating margin, %	5.2	13.1
Profit before taxes, SEKm	531	1,924
Net profit, SEKm	394	1,296
Basic earnings per share, SEK	0.86	2.77

The decrease of 4.8% in net sales for the quarter, in SEK, was attributable to:
volume -26.9%, structure 1.4%, price/mix 7.1% and currency effects 13.6%.

The quarter included expenses for restructuring activities and other one-time
items of around SEK 175 million (0), of which around SEK 65 million are write
downs and impairments. Approximately SEK 100 million of these expenses were
announced already in December 2008 to be taken in 2009.

Outlook for the second quarter of 2009
The demand for SKF products and services is expected to be significantly lower
in the second quarter compared to the second quarter last year for the Group in
total, for all the Divisions and for all regions. 

Compared to the first quarter, demand is expected to be slightly lower for the
SKF Group in total and lower in Europe, slightly lower in North America and
relatively unchanged in Asia and Latin America. Demand is expected to be
relatively unchanged for the Automotive Division and slightly lower for both the
Industrial and Service Division. 

The manufacturing level will be significantly lower year on year and relatively
unchanged compared to the first quarter.

Göteborg, 21 April 2009 

Aktiebolaget SKF
(publ.)

Tom Johnstone	
President and CEO


AB SKF may be required to disclose the information provided herein according to
the Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The
information was submitted for publication at 12.00 (CET) on 21 April 2009.


Further information can be obtained from:
Ingalill Östman, Group Communication
tel: +46-31-3373260, mobile: +46-706-973260, e-mail: ingalill.ostman@skf.com 
Marita Björk, Investor Relations
tel: +46-31-3371994, mobile: +46-705-181994, e-mail: marita.bjork@skf.com