UPDATE 2-Evonik expects Q2 core profit in line with Q1, confirms 2024 outlook

(Adds CEO quote on FY expectations in paragraph 3, analyst comment in paragraph 6, comparison to Vara estimates for core profit in paragraph 8)

By Anastasiia Kozlova and Amir Orusov

May 8 (Reuters) - German chemicals group Evonik Industries said on Wednesday it expects its results to be strong in the second quarter, but is keeping its full-year guidance unchanged due to ongoing uncertainty in the industry.

Evonik said it expects its second-quarter core profit to be "on a par" with the first quarter when it beat analysts expectations.

On a conference call, Chief Executive Christian Kullmann cited subdued visibility into the second half of the year for maintaining its current outlook.

Evonik's chemicals are used in products from cars to animal feed, as well as in Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Chemical companies have been under pressure for more than a year, forced to reduce inventories on lower demand from industrial clients as energy prices soared.

A strong performance for the second quarter makes its "definitely more likely" for the company to achieve the upper range of 2024 guidance, said Konstantin Wiechert, an analyst from Baader Helvea.

The company said its first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 522 million euros ($560.6 million), in line with preliminary figures published last month and up from 409 million euros in the prior-year period.

This was 16% ahead of a forecast by analysts in a Vara Research poll.

Evonik also said that Q1 sales volumes were up by 4% for the first time in two years, while prices fell by 5%, in part due to the passing-on of lower raw material prices.

"Many of our customers are buying again," Kullmann said in a statement, but added that there was no broad-based upturn yet as some industries and markets remained restrained. Evonik's finance chief said cost cuts were increasingly taking effect. In March, it announced up to 2,000 job cuts worldwide by 2026 to reduce costs by 400 million euros annually.

The company said details of its reorganisation programme would be finalised by the third quarter. ($1 = 0.9311 euros) (Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Amir Orusov; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Savio D'Souza and Sharon Singleton)