Solvay Profit Forecast Tops Most Estimates as Prices Gain

Solvay SA, the chemicals maker that bought Rhodia SA last year, forecast 2012 profit that surpassed most analysts’ estimates after reporting a smaller-than-estimated drop in first-quarter earnings as prices rose.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, excluding one-time items, will be “similar” to last year’s 2.07 billion euros ($2.7 billion), Brussels-based Solvay said today in a statement. That compares with analysts’ projections of 1.86 billion euros, the average of 22 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Last year’s figure is adjusted to assume a full year of Rhodia ownership, a purchase that was completed in September.