UPDATE 3-Autoliv finds buyer for Russian business as profits rise more than expected

(Adds Russian sale in paragraph 1, CEO comment in paragraphs 2 and 5, shares in paragraph 11)

By Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM, April 26 (Reuters) - Auto supplier Autoliv reported first-quarter adjusted operating profit above expectations on Friday and said it had found a buyer for its business in Russia.

CEO Mikael Bratt told Reuters the company was in the approval process for the sale and expected it to go ahead in the next two to three months.

The sale was first reported by financial daily Dagens Industri.

Autoliv's 2022 annual report said the company suspended both its Russian operations and presence in Russia following the start of the Ukraine war in February of that year.

Bratt declined to give further detail on the deal, including on price tag and buyer.

The Swedish car safety equipment maker's operating profit, adjusted for non-recurring costs, rose to $199 million in the first quarter from $131 million a year before.

Analysts polled by LSEG had on average forecast a profit of $185 million.

Autoliv last year took action to bring down costs, including cutting thousands of jobs and closing down plants in Europe in response to inflation across the entire sector.

These efforts have been effective in improving the company's balance sheet, it said.

Autoliv and other auto industry suppliers have also generally been successful in passing on a significant portion of cost inflation to customers.

Autoliv's shares, listed in Stockholm, were up nearly 3% at 1104 GMT, after being up nearly 5% earlier on Friday.

"It seems that operational improvements are running a bit ahead of the plan," Handelsbank analyst Hampus Engellau told Reuters.

Engellau said there was some optimism from the market that Autoliv's full-year outlook for an operating margin of 10.5% was conservative and could come higher, which was driving Friday's share reaction.

The world's largest producer of airbags and seatbelts reiterated its guidance for a full-year adjusted operating margin of around 10.5% that it gave in January, and also still see organic sales growth of around 5%. (Reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Anna Ringstrom and Jane Merriman)