Specialty chemicals maker Solutia posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped largely by sales of parts for solar panels, window glass and automotive tires. The company makes niche products, including screen parts for Amazon.com's Kindle, that customers are willing to pay a premium for as the economy recovers.

Solutia said its first-quarter net income was $65 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $58 million, or a loss of 49 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding the cost of relocating its European headquarters, the gain on the sale of a rubber chemicals operation and other one-time items, Solutia said it earned 50 cents per share. By that measure, analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 46 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 14% to $509 million, missing the $515.9 million analysts, on average, had expected.

Demand for solar panel parts and acoustic layers for window glass helped lift sales at the company's advanced interlayers unit by 15% to $213 million, Solutia said.

The technical specialties unit, which makes insoluble sulfur for tires, rose 7% to $220 million. For the full year, Solutia said it expects adjusted earnings of $2.10 to $2.25 per share. Analysts, on average, expect $2.18 per share.

Solutia was spun off from Monsanto in 1997.