Industrivarden AB (INDU-A.SK), a Swedish investment company, Friday said its portfolio companies were feeling the effects of the economic downturn but that the favourable development on the stock market in the second quarter still helped boost its net asset value per share by 7% on the quarter.

   MAIN FACTS:

-NAV/Share rose to SEK121 as of Sept. 30, from SEK113 on June 30,as the value of its equity portfolio increased due to stock market gains.

-The value of the equities portfolio rose to SEK63.4 billion in the third quarter from SEK59.8 billion in preceding quarter.

-The company swung to a third-quarter net profit of SEK3.17 billion from a net loss of SEK15.9 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

-During the first nine months of the year, shares were purchased for SEK1.1 billion and sold for SEK1.37 billion in short-term derivative transactions. The largest sale was made in Svenska Handelsbanken AB (SHB-B.SK) for SEK748 million and the largest purchase in Skanska AB (SKA-B.SK) for SEK488 million.

-Industrivarden also owns stakes in companies like steel-maker SSAB AB (SSAB-A.SK), which it said had suffered from a sharp drop in demand, particularly for steel sheet, and faced immediate future challenges, but still had a strong position that should generate good earnings growth once demand turns up again.

-At 0819 GMT, shares were up 0.5% at SEK95.45.

-Write to Anna Molin at anna.molin@dowjones.com; Twitter: @DowJonesNordics

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