By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) - Sperian Protection could quadruple production of its protective face masks if swine flu prompts governments to make bulk orders, its chief executive told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

The world leader in respiratory protection equipment has seen demand for its products jump since the outbreak of the deadly new flu strain in Mexico last month and expects orders to remain high in 2009.

"If volumes (of disposable masks) had to double, triple, or even quadruple in the next few months, we would know how to do it," Brice de la Morandiere said.

Just over 1,000 people in 20 countries have caught what has become known as the swine flu, with 26 dead and another 701 ill in Mexico where many offices and businesses are closed to try to prevent the disease from spreading.

Sperian, formerly known as Bacou-Dalloz, has plants in Brazil, Tunisia and France and produces about 500,000 disposable masks a day. It is ready to increase that by up to half in the coming days, de la Morandiere said.

"Demand will certainly stay high this year, as this crisis will prompt health authorities over the world to rethink their response to pandemics," he said, adding that the group had been contacted by several governments in Europe and North America.

Shares in Sperian jumped about 36.5 percent last week, but were down 10.9 percent on Monday at 34 euros, giving the company a market value of 292 million euros ($387.9 million).

"The market got a little bit carried away," said one France-based analyst who declined to be named.

"Sperian will probably see a rise in orders for disposable masks, but that should not compensate for the negative impact of the slowdown in the construction sector," he said, adding that he expected total sales for 2009 to fall by 4 to 5 percent.

Disposable masks account for only "a few" percent of Sperian's total sales, or about 20 million euros annually, de la Morandiere said. Group 2008 revenue was 751 million euros.

Sperian, which has benefited from an order from the French government for 225 million masks between 2006 and 2009, said France was well prepared to face such epidemics but that this was not the case for other governments.

"The French government reacted to the avian flu crisis a few years ago by increasing its stocks of masks and is extremely well prepared. It is less clear for other countries," de la Morandiere said.

Following the avian flu crisis in 2004, the group increased its production capacity by acquiring Brazilian mask maker Epicon. It says its "production philosophy" is now based on this type of temporary increase in activity.

De la Morandiere said the group was ruling out acquisitions for 2009 but added that it had a "vocation for consolidation in the sector" and could devote up to 250 million euros to acquisitions next year.