UPDATE 2-Solvay Q1 operating profit down 53%, tops forecast

* REBIT 142 million euros, vs forecast 126 million

* Expects full-year operating profit to be lower than 2008

* Visibility still limited for plastic, chemicals

* Shares down 0.8 percent

(Adds analyst comment, details, background, updates shares)

By Aaron Gray-Block

BRUSSELS, May 12 (Reuters) - Belgian drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay (SOLB.BR) posted a 53 percent fall in recurring first-quarter operating profit, beating estimates, but said full-year operating profit would be below 2008.

Recurring earnings before interest and tax (REBIT) fell to 142 million euros ($194 million), above the average forecast of 126 million in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts. Last year, the company reported 300 million euros in first-quarter REBIT.

Solvay said the pharmaceuticals unit would achieve in 2009 a higher operating result than last year, but conditions remained difficult for chemicals and plastics and visibility was limited.

"Full-year operating result of the group will be lower than last year," the company said in a statement.

Solvay shares were down 0.8 percent at 64.71 euros at 1210 GMT, compared with a 0.9 percent rise in the DJ Stoxx European Chemicals index .SX4P.

"There was a big miss in pharma, so it's not a surprise this does not trigger any positive share price response," Fortis Bank Nederland analyst Mark van der Geest said.

He said sales at the unit appeared to have shifted more than expected to the fourth quarter from the first.

Solvay, one of the few remaining drug-chemicals hybrids, is conducting a strategic review of its drugs unit with a sale of the unit considered possible by many analysts, but provided no extra details in its statement.

The unit reported first-quarter REBIT of 91 million euros, missing the average forecast of 125 million.

Plunging demand in automotive, electrical and construction industries has hit profit hard at chemical firms globally, but Akzo Nobel (AKZO.AS) and Clariant (CLN.VX) have said they were starting to see the bottom in some markets.