* Adjusted EBITA 1.00 bln SEK vs f'cast 968 million
* Sees demand in Q4 about same level as Q3
* Q3 order intake 5.07 bln SEK, missing forecast (Adds analyst comment, detail, background)
By Johannes Hellstrom and Niklas Pollard
STOCKHOLM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval said on Wednesday it saw no pick-up in demand this year, though cost cuts helped it post a smaller than expected fall in third-quarter core earnings.
Like its peers in the Swedish engineering industry, Alfa Laval -- which makes fluid-handling equipment, pumps and heat-transfer products -- saw demand wither at the end of last year as the global financial crisis ended years of easy credit and pushed economies across the world into recession.
Since then financial markets have recovered and economic activity stabilised, but demand for manufactured products remains subdued with order bookings well below year-ago levels.
"We expect demand during the fourth quarter to be on about the same level as during the third," the company said.
Headline earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (adjusted EBITA) fell to 1.00 billion Swedish crowns ($144.6 million) from a year-ago 1.44 billion, topping the mean forecast of 968 million seen in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.
Alfa Laval's order bookings fell to 5.07 billion crowns in July through September, from 6.78 billion a year earlier, missing the 5.12 billion crowns seen by analysts.
"The question marks to be raised pertain to them guiding for flat demand sequentially in the fourth quarter. Looking at our estimates, that is a bit weaker than expected," said an analyst who asked not to be identified.
"In terms of triggering some change in the view of Alfa, this could mean that one will need to question the pace and magnitude of the recovery if the fourth quarter does not see the improvement we had hoped."
Stripped of currency swings and acquisitions, the annual decline in order intake was even greater with a fall of 31.4 percent, but the company noted that this still represented an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the second quarter.
Sales fell to 5.81 billion crowns in the quarter from 6.63 billion a year ago, undershooting the poll's mean forecast of 5.99 billion.
Like domestic sector peers such as Atlas Copco and Sandvik, Alfa Laval has unveiled sweeping staff cuts in a scramble to scale back capacity and costs and stem the bleeding resulting from the sharp fall in market demand.
The company is in the process of cutting 1,700 jobs across the group, 1,150 of which had, as planned, been slashed by the end of the third quarter, and the company said it saw no need to introduce further cuts. (Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Johannes Hellstrom; editing by John Stonestreet and Rupert Winchester)