Oerlikon still expects return to profit in 2011

ZURICH, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Loss-making Swiss technology group Oerlikon (OERL.S) on Tuesday reiterated its expectation of a return to profit in 2011 and is launching a new set of machines to make solar modules more cheaply.

"We are sticking to our guidance," Chief Executive Michael Buscher, who took the helm at Oerlikon earlier this year, told Reuters in a telephone call.

Module manufacturers are in a race to get the most cost-effective panels to end customers.

Oerlikon, in which Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg holds a major stake and which produces the machines to make solar cells, is hoping its new production line for thin film silicon modules would give it an edge.

The group, which posted a net loss in 2009, said thanks to the new line the modules could be produced for 0.5 euros ($0.637) per watt peak, compared with 1.2 euros per watt peak in 2008.

Oerlikon did not provide figures on how much it expected the new line to help business.

Oerlikon, which carried out a rights issue earlier this year, makes a range of products from coatings used in Formula One cars to the gear systems used in the Aston Martin sportscars favoured by secret agent James Bond. (Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=.7846 Euro)