SKF Half-year report 2012


Tom Johnstone, President and CEO:
“The financial uncertainty and lack of confidence in the market place increased
during the quarter and this impacted our sales particularly in Europe and in
Asia. The weaker demand which we saw in Southern Europe at the start of the year
continued and we also saw softening in some other parts of Europe. In Asia our
sales did not develop as expected while we saw continued good growth in both
North America and Latin America.
We adjusted our manufacturing during the quarter to reflect the demand situation
and to avoid building inventory and as expected this impacted our results. Steps
were also announced to adjust our manufacturing cost base in Europe and this we
will continue to work on.
The SKF BeyondZero portfolio of solutions was launched and will help our
customers reduce their energy cost and impact on the environment. In addition we
announced our new climate targets and joined the WWF Climate Savers programme.
Going forward, while it is likely that the uncertainty in the market will
remain, we expect demand for the Group in the third quarter to continue at the
present good level.”

Key figures                    Q2 2012  Q2 2011  YTD 2012  YTD 2011
Net sales, SEKm                17,174   16,712   34,105    33,414
Operating profit, SEKm         2,053    2,623    4,193     5,127
Operating margin, %            12.0     15.7     12.3      15.3
Profit before taxes, SEKm      1,801    2,446    3,782     4,764
Net profit, SEKm               1,260    1,743    2,601     3,363
Basic earnings per share, SEK  2.67     3.76     5.51      7.20

Net sales change in  Volume  Price/mix  Structure  Currency effect  Total
SEK, attributable
to:
Q2 2012              -2.8%   2.0%       0.0%       3.6%             2.8%
Half year 2012       -1.8%   1.9%       0.0%       2.0%             2.1%

Sales in local currency in the second quarter compared to the same period last
year
(excl. structure)
Sales for the Group were relatively unchanged. In Europe they decreased by 3.4%
and in Asia by 7.9%. In North America they increased by 8.5% and in Latin
America by 16.6%. In Middle East and Africa they were relatively unchanged.
The manufacturing level was significantly lower than in the second quarter last
year.
One-time costs
The quarter included one-time costs of around SEK 140 m mainly due to steps
taken to reduce the cost base in Germany.

Outlook for the third quarter of 2012
Demand compared to the third quarter last year
The demand for SKF’s products and services is expected to be relatively
unchanged for the Group. It is expected to be lower in Europe, relatively
unchanged in Asia, higher in North America and slightly higher in Latin America.
The demand is expected to be slightly higher for Industrial Strategic Industries
and
relatively unchanged for Automotive and Industrial Regional Sales and Service.
Demand compared to the second quarter 2012
The demand for SKF’s products and services is expected to be relatively
unchanged for the Group. It is expected to be slightly lower in Europe,
relatively unchanged in Asia and North America and higher in
Latin America. The demand is expected to be relatively unchanged for Industrial
Strategic Industries
and Industrial Regional Sales and Service and slightly lower for Automotive.
Manufacturing level
The manufacturing level is expected to be lower year on year and slightly lower
compared to the second quarter.

Gothenburg, 17 July 2012
Aktiebolaget SKF
(publ.)

Tom Johnstone
President and CEO

_____________________________________________________________

AB SKF is required to disclose the information provided herein pursuant to the
Securities
Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was
submitted
for publication at 08.00 on 18 July 2012.
_____________________________________________________________

A teleconference will be held on 18 July 2012 at 09.00 CET, 08.00 (UK):
SE: +46 (0)8 5055 9853
UK: +44 (0)203 043 2436

You will find all information regarding SKF Half-year results 2012 on the IR
website.
investors.skf.com/quarterlyreporting
Further information can be obtained from:
Ingalill Östman, Group Communications
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
SKF is a leading global supplier of
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e 
n), lubrication systems (http://www.skf.com/portal/skf_lub?lang=en), and
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n) which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services,
engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130
countries and has 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2011
were SEK 66,216 million and the number of employees was 46,039. www.skf.com

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