Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge reported bigger-than-expected core earnings for the second quarter on Thursday, as its order intake grew organically despite prolonged problems with its product packaging and heart products.

Its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA), adjusted for items affecting comparability, were 981 million Swedish crowns ($93 million) in the quarter, nearly doubling from the 495 million crowns it reported a year earlier.

That beat analysts' expectations of 829 million crowns, a company-provided consensus poll showed.

Getinge has struggled to resolve quality problems with its heart pumps and with sterile packaging of products for heart-lung support systems, which have squeezed its margins and knocked its shares since the second quarter last year.

In May, Getinge said it would pause promotional activities and limit sales for some of its heart products in the U.S., after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised healthcare facilities to move away from the devices.

"We have accelerated improvement measures and the schedule for the next generation of these products," CEO Mattias Perjos said in a statement, but added it was too early to note any sales trend in the short term.

The maker of products for surgery, intensive care and sterilisation said its orders grew by 7.8% organically in the April to June period to 8.41 billion crowns. ($1 = 10.5502 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)