STOCKHOLM -- SKF has reported net sales of SEKm 14,849, down, SEKm 747 from the previous quarter. The company reported an operating profit of SEKm 768 for the quarter and net profit of SEKm 394 for the quarter.

SKF said the 4.8 percent decrease in net sales for the quarter was attributable to: volume -26.9 percent, structure 1.4 percent, price/mix 7.1 percent and currency effects 13.6 percent.

Commenting on the results, Tom Johnstone, president and CEO, said, “We saw a very significant drop in our sales volumes in the first quarter and reduced our manufacturing level even more. The actions that 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."

The quarter included expenses for restructuring activities and other one-time items of around SEK 175 million, 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.

With regard to outlook for the second quarter of 2009, the company expects the demand for SKF products and services 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 Divisions. SKF said manufacturing levels will be significantly lower year-on-year and relatively unchanged compared to the first quarter.