EUROPEAN INDUSTRY: Slower growth for chemical earning

For a while last month, it was feared that the West European chemical industry was headed for a "free-fair' after one of West Germany's three largest chemical companies, Hoechst A.G., disclosed relatively weak first-half earnings. The firm showed an increase of only 8.3%, to $1.09 billion, in pretax profits compared with 1988's first half. Analysts were expecting a 15 to 20% gain. What made matters seem worse was Hoechst's 2% drop in secondquarter earnings. "This is catastrophic," declared Hans Peter Wodniok, Frankfurt-based equities analyst at James Capel & Co. "We expected profit margins to come under pressure, but this is more than we expected." But by last week the worries had eased as the financial community finished digesting the positive performances of the other European chemical giants. BASF, for example, rang up firsthalf earnings of $1.12 billion, up 28% from first-half 1988. And last week, Bayer A.G. disclosed its firsthalf sales and earnings: Sales increased ...