UPDATE 2-Nalco Q3 profit beats; sees Asia sales picking up in Q4

* Q3 adj EPS beats market view, rev down 14 pct

* Lower costs help offset weak sales

* CEO sees Asia sales picking up in Q4

* CEO sees exceeding $100 mln cost savings goal in Q4 (Recasts; adds CEO comments, details)

By Adveith Nair

BANGALORE, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Nalco Holding Co NLC.N reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, as lower costs helped offset weak sales, and said it expects sales in Asia to pick up in the fourth quarter.

Third-quarter organic sales in Asia Pacific were down 2 percent. Chief Executive Erik Fyrwald had said in June he expects China to become Nalco's second biggest market, behind the U.S., in the next two or three years.[ID:nBNG135153]

"I see sales in Asia picking up year-over-year in the fourth quarter. And then sales at the whole company (improving) next year," Fyrwald told Reuters after the third-quarter earnings.

Nalco's third-quarter sales fell 14 percent to $957 million, with sales at its paper services segment -- down 13 percent -- posting the biggest percentage decline for the third consecutive quarter.

"Like the rest of the company, at some point next year, we will start to see paper levelling off, and returning to some level of growth," Fyrwald said.

The company, which provides water treatment services and chemicals to the petrochemical sector, also expects costs to decline further.

Fyrwald said Nalco had $31 million in costs savings in the third quarter, and added he expects the company to exceed $100 million in cost savings in the fourth quarter.

For the latest third quarter, the company earned $28 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with earnings of $57.4 million, or 41 cents a share, last year.

Excluding items, the Naperville, Illinois-based company earned 31 cents a share, compared with 36 cents a share, last year.

Total operating costs fell nearly 12 percent.

Analysts on average were looking for earnings of 25 cents a share, on revenue of $961.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company, which have nearly tripled from the year-low hit in November 2008, closed at $20.84 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Adveith Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)