(Adds details, quotes, share price)
* Q2 EBIT 578 mln DKK vs avg Reuters poll estimate 612 mln
* Company keeps main full-year 2011 guidance intact
* Raises guidance for 2011 free cash flow
* Announces 1:5 share split and share buyback programme
COPENHAGEN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Industrial enzymes producer Novozymes (NZYMb.CO) missed market forecasts with a slight increase in second-quarter operating profit as sales slowed.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 578 million Danish crowns ($110 million) in April-June from 574 million in the same quarter last year.
The result lagged an average estimate of 612 million crowns in a Reuters poll of analysts whose EBIT forecasts ranged from 553 million to 645 million.
Novozymes stood by its previous forecast for full-year 2011 EBIT and sales in Danish crowns to grow by 8-11 percent and its EBIT margin to be around 22 percent.
But it bumped up its guidance for 2011 free cash flow to a 1.1-1.2 billion crowns from an earlier range of 1.0-.1.1 billion.
The company, whose enzymes are used to make a wide range of consumer products from detergents to biofuels, said it would carry out a 1:5 stock split by Dec. 1 to make its stock more accessible to retail investors.
It said it would launch a share buyback of up to 2 billion crowns and gradually increase dividends starting in 2012.
"Although we're seeing increasing general uncertainty concerning the global economic situation and increased volatility in our end markets, we're able to maintain our sales and earnings growth guidance for the full year," Chief Executive Steen Riisgaard said in the statement. ($1 = 5.254 Danish Crowns) (Reporting by John Acher)
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