* Q2 orders 5.19 bln SEK vs f'cast 5.46 bln
* Core EBITA 1.18 bln crowns, just above forecast
* Shares fall 1.6 percent
(Adds CEO comment, analyst comment, updates share price)
By Johannes Hellstrom and Victoria Klesty
STOCKHOLM, July 16 (Reuters) - Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval's order bookings fell further than expected in the second quarter, sending its shares down on Thursday even though it posted forecast-beating earnings.
Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (adjusted EBITA) fell to 1.18 billion Swedish crowns ($151.5 million) from a year-ago 1.59 billion, just topping the average forecast of 1.15 billion given in a Reuters poll of 11 analysts.
Adjusted EBITA is the group's standard measure of its profitability, stripping out items that distort comparisons.
Like its peers in the Swedish engineering industry, Alfa Laval has seen demand fade as the global financial crisis has pushed economies across the world into recession.
Order bookings at the maker of fluid-handling equipment, pumps and heat-transfer products fell to 5.19 billion crowns in April through June from 7.07 billion a year earlier, below the 5.46 billion expected by analysts.
Alfa Laval shares initially fell nearly 5 percent on the news but recovered some of the lost ground to stand 1.6 percent lower at 75.5 crowns by 1112 GMT, underperforming a 0.5 percent gain in the Stockholm bourse's blue-chip index.
"Whichever way you look at it, order intake was down 37 percent in the second quarter, which is a bigger decline than in the first quarter," said an analyst who asked not to be identified. "That is what catches the eye as the weakest point in this report."
Stripped of currency swings and acquisitions, the decline in order intake was even greater, with a fall of 39.4 percent, though the company noted that the drop was from "a very high level" of order bookings in the year-ago quarter.
"The lower demand was due to a lower activity level in the economy, difficulties for our customers to get financing and postponed investment decisions," the company said in the report.
"We expect demand during the third quarter to be on about the same level as during the second quarter 2009," it added.
Alfa Laval Chief Executive Lars Renstrom told a news conference the group's gross margin, which fell to 37.7 percent in the second quarter from a year-ago 43.5 percent, was likely to remain under pressure.
"In the third quarter there is an even lower production rate in our plants which will give an additional negative effect," he said.
Sales fell to 6.75 billion crowns in the quarter from 6.86 billion a year ago, undershooting the poll's mean forecast of 6.85 billion. ($1=7.787 Swedish crowns) (Writing by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Simon Jessop)