UPDATE 1-Schweitzer-Mauduit Q3 profit beats, raises '09 view

* Q3 adj EPS $1.39 vs est $0.93

* Net sales falls 7 percent

* Restructuring initiatives help

* See FY 2009 earnings above estimates

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Premium specialty paper maker Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc (SWM.N) posted a third-quarter profit that beat market estimates, as the company benefited from moving its core manufacturing operations toward higher-value products.

The company said its actions to decrease higher-cost capacity, especially in the U.S. and France, helped offset the impact of volume decline in the third quarter.

Schweitzer-Mauduit, which has cut more than 300 jobs in France so far this year, also said it plans to invest about $117 million to construct a wholly owned plant in the Philippines to produce reconstituted tobacco leaf (RTL).

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported net income of $4.5 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with $6.7 million, or 43 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding items, adjusted net income was $1.39 per share.

Net sales fell 7 percent to $184.5 million, weighed down by foreign currency fluctuations and a decline in unit sales volumes.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 93 cents per share, excluding special items, on revenue of $185.90 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company now expects full-year adjusted earnings of at least $4.00 a share, above its earlier forecast of better-than $3.50 per share. Analysts on average were expecting 2009 earnings of $3.75 a share.

For 2010, the company sees earnings per share of about $5.00, excluding restructuring and impairment expenses, while analysts' mean view was for a profit of $4.70 a share.

Shares of the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company closed at $53.52 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)