UPDATE 1-Australia's Ansell sees earnings down in 2010

* Net profit up 18 pct, tops forecasts

* FY10 outlook top end matches analysts' forecasts

* Sees big benefit from cost cuts in FY11 (Adds CEO comments)

MELBOURNE, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Ansell Ltd (ANN.AX), the world's top rubber gloves maker, sees its earnings per share falling in the year ahead, with little pick-up expected in its key market of glove sales to auto makers.

The company reported an 18 percent rise in net profit for the year to June 2009, beating analysts' forecasts, but it was slammed in the second half by the collapse in auto manufacturing, especially at General Motors [GM.UL] in the United States.

The year ahead would be difficult, Chief Executive Doug Tough said, but the company was in a strong position to increase sales if there was any sign of recovery for manufacturers, who use its gloves in their factories.

"Notwithstanding supposedly a few green shoots being identified by some people, our competition will face a challenging first half of fiscal 2010 also," he told analysts, adding that "some of our competition are truly weakened."

Tough said the company continued to look for small acquisitions and new opportunities for growth as it was not counting on much of a recovery in car manufacturing.

He said glove distributors and their customers had all finished running down their stocks, which meant when demand picked up, production would have to be ramped up swiftly.

"Everyone is running so lean...the nimbleness that we will need in a positive environment is going to be extreme, because distributors and customers will be clamouring for product, we hope," Tough said.

The company said it expects earnings for financial year 2010 of 56 U.S. cents to 62 U.S. cents per share with the top end in line with analysts' forecasts.

It flagged that its move to cut 4 percent, or 420, of its manufacturing jobs in 2009 and a further 78 jobs in the year ahead would boost earnings per share by more than 10 cents from 2011 onward.

Ansell's shares rose 0.9 percent to A$9.48 in a broader market that was down 1.1 percent.

Net profit rose to A$121.4 million ($100.7 million) for the year to June from A$102.6 million a year earlier, beating analysts' forecasts around A$110.6 million, according to estimates tracker IBES.

Earnings per share in U.S. dollar terms, which the company focuses on as most of its earnings are outside Australia, were flat at 66.3 cents per share, in line with the group's forecast of 65-70 cents a share.

Sales of condoms, where it competes against Durex maker SSL International (SSL.L), fell 8.7 percent, while the swine flu outbreak had little impact on Ansell's sales of medical exam gloves, which were about 13 percent of group's sales and are a low margin business.

Companies such as Malaysia's Top Glove (TPGC.KL) have reported sales jump as much as 20 percent since April because of flu pandemic-related sales. ($1=1.205 Australian Dollar) (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Gyles Beckford)