Chemicals maker DuPont

says it does not expect to match last year's profit levels until at least 2012, according to a filing with U.S. regulators on Wednesday.

Executive Vice President Mark P. Vergnano told investors on Tuesday that he doesn't expect the company to return to 2008 profit levels for about two-and-a-half to three years.

That outlook factors in expected losses in the company's pharmaceutical unit, he said.

DuPont earned $2.20 per share in 2008. Analysts expect the company to earn $1.82 per share in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

Even though Vergnano made the statements to a private group of investors, DuPont is required to disclose guidance on earnings.

The Wilmington, Delaware-based company, which makes a wide range of consumer and industrial products like Kevlar and Nomex, made the announcement in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of DuPont -- the only chemical maker in the Dow Jones industrial average -- fell 9 cents to $31.80 in afternoon trading.

The stock has traded between $16.05 and $39.36 in the past 52 weeks.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder)

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