SKF strengthens its service business, acquires US and Australian companies

SKF has acquired Precision Balancing & Analyzing (PB&A), Mentor, Ohio, USA and Monitek Australia, located in Brisbane, Australia. SKF is paying some SEK 60 million in total.

PB&A is specialized in the repair and upgrading of machine tool spindle mechanisms and has 40 employees with annual sales of USD 7 million. PB&A’s activities complement SKF's spindle service operations and improve the geographical coverage of the US market. SKF's global certified spindle service network has now increased to 17 Service Centers, covering most industrialized manufacturing areas worldwide. Monitek is a leading Australian predictive maintenance services company. t is a supplier of high quality vibration monitoring and wear debris analysis in the mining industry. Yearly sales amount to 4.3 Million Australian Dollars and the number of employees is 29. Monitek strengthens SKF's position as a leading provider of Reliability Services to these industries. ***** The SKF Group is the leading global supplier of products, solutions and services in the area comprising rolling bearings, seals, mechatronics services and lubrication systems. The Group's service offer also includes technical support, maintenance services, condition monitoring and training. The Group's annual sales 2005 were SEK 49.3 billion with an operating margin of 10.8%. The number of employees was 38 700. Göteborg, August 24, 2006 Aktiebolaget SKF (publ.) For further information, please contact: PRESS: Lars G Malmer, SKF Group Communication, tel. +46 (0)31 337 1541, e-mail: Lars.G.Malmer@skf.com IR: Marita Björk, SKF Investor Relations, tel. 031-337 1994, e-mail: Marita.Bjork@skf.com