WRAPUP 2-Global chemicals companies see no signs of upturn

* Sector reliant on hard-hit industries

* BASF CFO says may cut dividend for first time in 16 yrs

* Dow sees no material improvement for rest of 2009

* Clariant swings to net loss

* Solvay profit beats forecast, Kemira tops expectations

(Adds details on Dow, BASF)

By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT, July 30 (Reuters) - Global chemicals companies, including the world's biggest, BASF BASF.DE, see no signs of an upturn as demand from industries hit hard by the recession stays weak, a string of results showed on Thursday.

The chemical sector's reliance on battered industries such as electronics, carmakers and builders make it particularly vulnerable to the downturn, while its typically massive overhead costs are relatively hard to cut.

Germany's BASF, long a paragon of steady payouts to investors, said it would likely trim its dividend for the first time in 16 years, while Dow Chemical (DOW.N), the largest U.S. chemical maker by sales, incurred almost $1 billion in restructuring charges, mainly due to its takeover of Rohm & Haas.

Excluding charges and preferred dividends, Dow earned 5 cents per share in the second quarter, down from 81 cents a year earlier, and said it saw no "material improvements in market conditions for the remainder of the year".[ID:nN29284252]

This echoes Wednesday's remarks by Bayer BAYG.DE, the world's largest maker of plastics for DVDs and of chemicals for insulation foams, that demand had bottomed out but that the industry was nowhere near a sustained upturn. [ID:nLR342802]

BASF said second-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) excluding one-off items slumped 53 percent to 1.14 billion euros ($1.61 billion), just above the average estimate of 1.07 billion euros in a Reuters poll of 14 analysts. [ID:nLT466796]

It sees a significant decline in sales and earnings in 2009, even when taking into account Ciba, the Swiss rival it bought for more than $3 billion just months before global chemical demand collapsed last year.

"The only optimism I see is in agrochemicals and in oil services, but nowhere else in chemicals," said Martin Flueckiger, analyst at Swiss brokerage Helvea.

Apart from China, where demand was recovering again, "basically you see stabilisation at low levels", Flueckiger said.

MIXED FORTUNES

Other smaller chemicals companies had mixed fortunes.

Both Wacker Chemie (WCHG.DE) -- which supplies silicon wafers to makers of solar panels and micro chips -- and Switzerland's Clariant (CLN.VX) made a loss in the second quarter. Clariant said full-year sales could drop by as much as 20 percent. [ID:nLT623655]

Second-quarter operating profit at Belgium's Solvay (SOLB.BR) fell less than expected as cost savings and lower energy prices helped offset weak sales, but it warned that markets remained difficult. [ID:nLT167940]

Solvay, one of the few drug-chemicals hybrids left, along with Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) and Bayer, also said it should have more clarity in the fourth quarter on options for its drugs unit, which it may put on the auction block. [ID:nLU559589]

Finnish chemicals group Kemira (KRA1V.HE), however, struck a more optimistic note. [ID:nLU545876]

BASF shares had fallen 4.5 percent to 33.25 euros by 1350 GMT and Wacker dropped more than 3 percent, while the DJ Stoxx European chemicals sector .SX4P was little changed..

Other stocks gained, including Dow, which rose 6.4 percent, and Clariant, Solvay and Kemira, which was helped by cost cuts and past price hikes and its upbeat tone for full-year profit. ($1=1.077 Swiss Franc) ($1=.7095 Euro) (Additional reporting by Sam Cage in Zurich, Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam and Ernest Scheyder in New York; Editing by Erica Billingham and Simon Jessop)