Celanese said that its quarterly profit rose 29% due to strong sales of chemicals used to make glues and fibers.

For the first quarter, the company posted net income of $183 million, or $1.15 per share, compared with $142 million, or 91 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Sales rose 2.8% to $1.63 billion.

On Monday night Celanese raised its quarterly dividend 25 % to 7.5 cents.

The results are the first since Mark Rohr became chief executive of Celanese on April 1. Rohr told Reuters he intends to focus on new product areas.

In a statement on Tuesday, Rohr said he expects "challenging market conditions" to continue in Europe and everywhere in Asia except for China.