Bausch & Lomb Inc. (NYSE: BOL) said late Thursday that it expects a rise in first-quarter profit, however it would be unable to file its results with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in due time.

Due to the significant time and effort involved in completing the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2006, the compilation and review of first-quarter financial results has not been finalized, the company stated with its preliminary report.

The firm said it expects net earnings to rise 62 percent to $19.2 million, or 35 cents a share, compared to the $11.8 million, or 21 cents a share in same period last year.

Sales should rise to 6 percent to $578.9 million over the previous year.

The optical products maker reported a modest drop in fourth-quarter and full-year sales in 2006 in March, seeing slower-than-expected recovery from last year's recall of MoistureLoc. The product was blamed for an outbreak of severe fungal eye infections.

Shares of Bausch & Lomb rose 58 cents, or 0.95 percent, to $61.39 in mid-day trading on the New York Stock Exchange.