The group said the profit beat was helped by Nutrition & Care and Resource Efficiency, two segments whose products include chemicals for animal feed, batteries and the automotive industry.

Evonik, which makes chemicals used in products ranging from amino acids used in animal feed to super-absorbers for diapers, said second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for one-offs, fell 19% to 456 million euros (410.43 million pounds). The figure was above an analysts' forecast of 416 million euros in a company-provided poll.

Evonik is a market leader in the production of methionine, an amino acid used primarily in chicken feed, and falling prices for the chemical have eaten into its earnings over the past decade. However, at the end of the first quarter and in the beginning of the second quarter, methionine prices grew as the African Swine Flu was pushing livestock suppliers to boost poultry production.

The group, whose Resource Efficiency segment products include chemicals for batteries and base oil for synthetic drilling fluid, said the segment showed strong performance in resilient end markets. Low demand from the auto industry and a slump in oil prices that pressured the prices of chemicals weighed, however on that segment's results, Evonik said.

"In the crisis, we have shown high cash and cost discipline," chief financial officer Ute Wolf said, adding that the company was starting to see initial signs of recovery in some markets but that the coronavirus crisis was not yet over.

The company confirmed its 2020 outlook of sales between 11.5 billion and 13.0 billion euros, and adjusted EBITDA of between 1.7 billion and 2.1 billion euros.

(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)