* Aims for unit to be profitable end-2009 or early 2010 (Adds detail, background, share price)
By Johannes Hellstrom
STOCKHOLM, March 13 (Reuters) - World No. 1 bearings maker SKF's Automotive division, which accounts for about a third of group sales, will make a loss this year, the firm's top executive said on Friday.
The Swedish firm is cutting thousands of jobs to meet a sharp fall in demand in the coming months as customers scale back purchases across the globe amid the wider economic slump.
"I have adjusted down my expectations for the full year for Automotive," Chief Executive Tom Johnstone said in an interview.
"I don't think that we are going to be able to compensate for the first half any more."
As late as Jan. 29 Johnstone had reckoned Automotive would make a profit in 2009.
He said the unit would now probably make a full-year loss, even excluding restructuring costs, but would be profitable again towards the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010.
SKF, whose bearings are used in everything from cars and trucks to industrial tools and wind turbines, made a pretax profit of 6.9 billion Swedish crowns ($802 million) from record net sales of 63.4 billion in 2008.
Johnstone said that, in line with guidance earlier this year, demand for SKF's products had fallen significantly so far in the first part of 2009 from the final quarter of last year.
"We had expected February to be better than January due to the holidays in January, but we haven't seen that," he said.
In the fourth quarter, sales volumes fell 13 percent year-on-year.
Johnstone said he expected group sales to rise in China year-on-year in the first quarter, but the growth would be lower than in the fourth quarter of last year.
In its fourth-quarter report, released in January, the company said it expected market demand to be significantly lower in all regions. China accounts for 15 percent of world demand for bearings, SKF said in its annual report for 2008. (Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
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