The company, founded by Utah industrialist and philanthropist Jon M. Huntsman, reported Tuesday that its first-quarter net income fell to $46.6 million, or 20 cents per share, from $69 million, or 30 cents per share, for the same period a year earlier.

However, most of that 32 percent decline in profit was directly related to the temporary closure of plants in Port Arthur, Texas; Caojing, China; and at Greatham in the United Kingdom. The idling of those three plants cut the production of polyurethanes, pigments and base chemicals.

All three of those facilities are expected to return to production in the coming months.

"We are expecting that our earnings will rise modestly in the second quarter from the first quarter," said Peter Huntsman, chief executive of Huntsman Corp. "And we expect our results in the second half of 2007 will be stronger than those of the first half."

Revenue for the first quarter of 2007 was $2.64 billion, compared with $2.65 billion for the first quarter of 2006.

Securities analyst Laurence Alexander at Jefferies & Co. in New York said in a note to his clients that during the first quarter Huntsman's profits were better than projected in its materials and effects unit, which makes textile dyes and epoxy resins.

They also were better than expected in the performance-products unit that make amines, which are used to make fuel and lubricant additives. Profits were worse than expected in pigments, polymers and base chemicals.

Huntsman noted that by the time this year ends, the company expects to have completed the sale of the last of its highly cyclical commodity chemicals businesses.

That sale will allow Huntsman to continue to pay down much of its debt and focus on less-volatile specialty products. These include dyes, epoxy resins and polyurethanes, which are used in products such as building insulation and sealants.

"Our results for the first quarter of 2007 reflect earnings growth in all three of our differentiated [special-product] segments," Huntsman said.

He indicated that once the commodity chemicals businesses are gone, Huntsman's specialty products segments will generate 85 percent to 90 percent of corporate earnings.

In late December, Huntsman Corp. sold its United Kingdom-based commodity chemical assets to Saudi Basic Industries Corp. for $685 million.

Two months later, it agreed to sell its U.S.-based commodity chemical assets to Koch Industries for $761 billion but that deal is waiting on the restart of the Port Arthur plant that was shut down after a fire in April 2006.

Huntsman sold its Port Neches, Texas, plans to Texas Petrochemicals in June. The price was $262 million.

steve@sltrib.com