STOCKHOLM – Note reported same-factory third-quarter sales of SEK 271.9 million ($40.8 million), up 23% year-over-year.

The firm reported an operating loss of SEK 4.1 million ($615,000) for the quarter, compared to an operating profit of SEK 61.4 million in the same quarter last year.

In the past year, Note has shuttered factories in Taurage, Lithuania; Skänninge, Sweden; and Gdansk, Poland; and divested a plant in Skellefteå.

Customer activity increased sequentially, Note says, with orders for the period up more than 25% compared to the same period in 2009.

For the first nine months of 2010, sales were SEK 843.9 million, up 9% year-over-year.

The operating loss for the period was SEK 60.4 million, compared to an operating loss of SEK 88.1 million last year.

SEK 1 = $0.15