Aug 8 (Reuters) - 3M spin-off Solventum's ( SOLV )

second-quarter profit fell more than 70% on Thursday, hurt by

limited sales growth of its wound care and surgical

sterilization products and higher expenses, as it navigates

functioning as a newly independent company.

These were Solventum's ( SOLV ) first financial results as an

independent company. Its first-quarter results were prepared on

a "carve-out" basis from 3M's healthcare business.

In its first-quarter earnings, the company had warned that

it expected stand-up functional expenses to increase for the

rest of the year.

Total operating expenses rose about 11%, to $1.84 billion,

for the second quarter.

Minnesota-based Solventum ( SOLV ) is one of the largest providers of

sterilization devices, wound dressings, medical tape and other

hospital consumables used by healthcare facilities.

Its net income fell over 70% in the reported quarter to $89

million, or 51 cents per share, from $321 million, or $1.86 per

share, a year earlier.

Total net sales were $2.08 billion, almost flat compared to

last year.

More than half of total sales in the second quarter came

from Solventum's ( SOLV ) MedSurg business, which provides wound

dressings and surgical equipment.

The medical equipment maker raised the per-share range of

its current-year adjusted profit forecast to between $6.30 and

$6.50, from its earlier range of $6.10 per share to $6.40 per

share.

"We are starting from a solid foundation and remain focused

on addressing historical underperformance and spin-related

topics to unlock significant value creation over time," CEO

Bryan Hanson said.

The company now expects full-year organic sales to be flat

to up 1%. Its earlier organic sales forecast was flat to down

2%.

On an adjusted basis, Solventum ( SOLV ) earned $1.56 per share for

the quarter ended June 30.