SKF AB, the world's largest maker of ball bearings, reported record quarterly profit that beat analysts’ estimates as sales to industries in all regions grew.

SKF rose as much as 6.1%, the biggest jump in six months. First quarter net income rose to SEK 1.57 billion from SEK 1.03 billion a year ago. Profit beat the SEK 1.43 billion average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 17 analysts.

Mr Michael Hagmann, an analyst at Nomura International in London, said that "It's a good set of numbers. Volume was much better than expected, compensating for slightly worse currency impact."

SKF is considered an industry bellwether because its bearings are used in products such as construction cranes and cars. The company has rebounded from a slump that started in 2008 and forced it to cut 6,500 jobs. SKF is the first major Nordic manufacturer to report earnings, and today’s report lifted shares of companies from Atlas Copco AB to Sandvik AB.

Sales climbed 16% to SEK 16.7 billion in the quarter. The ball bearing maker said demand and supply weren't affected by last month's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sales to the car industry may decline in the second quarter due to the quake.

Mr Tom Johnstone CEO of SKF said that "SKF had a strong start to the year with records in sales, operating profit and operating margin and a good cash flow. We saw a very positive sales development in all regions and divisions with a similar demand pattern as at the end of last year."

In November 2010, the company said it planned to hire about 1,000 additional employees a year in Asia, boosting its ranks of engineers and sales people.

Mr Tom Johnstone president & CEO of SKF said that "The SKF Group has had a strong start to the year with records in sales, operating profit and operating margin and a good cash flow. We saw a very positive sales development in all regions and divisions with a similar demand pattern as at the end of last year. The steps which we have taken to reduce our cost base and to offset the higher raw material costs are clearly seen in the operating result of the Group. The integration of Lincoln Industrial into the SKF Group and the development of our total lubrication systems business is going according to plan."

He added that "During the quarter we saw no real impact in terms of demand or supply from the terrible tragedy in Japan. However we do expect to see some negative effect in the second quarter primarily in our sales to the car industry although this is very difficult to quantify. We do not see any material impact at this stage on demand in other segments of our business so we expect demand in total to be slightly higher sequentially for the Group. We will continue to work on our initiatives to strengthen the Group going forward and to invest in our business to support our long term financial targets."