Swedish home appliance manufacturer Electrolux announced that strong demand in several markets comprising North America helped increase its second-quarter profits.

The company's net profit, excluding items affecting comparability, stood at 1.1 billion kronor ($148 million) as against 633 million kronor during the same period of 2009.

Sales during the three month period remained down by 1% to 27.3 billion kronor.

The company announced that the US market carried on recovering, and noted the impact of the US government's programme to stimulate sales of energy-efficient products.

Sales also surged during the Asia/Pacific region and Latin America.

The European market stabilised overall, but there was weakened demand in southern Europe at the end of the quarter, the group said.

In its viewpoint, Electrolux projected demand to increase during 2010.

The group said that raw material costs were also increasing.

Electrolux had some 51,180 employees at the end of the quarter, up from some 49,500 employees a year earlier. (With Inputs from Agencies)