UPDATE 1-Varian Q2 profit beats Wall Street view

(Recasts; adds details, conference call details)

April 23 (Reuters) - Varian Inc (VARI.O: Quote, Profile, Research), a scientific equipment maker, reported a better-than-expected quarterly earnings, helped by higher sales in Europe and Latin America and strong sales of its life science and industrial products.

The company reported a second-quarter net income of $15.8 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with $16.3 million, or 53 cents a share, a year ago.

It earned 71 cents a share on a non-GAAP basis.

Revenue rose 7.9 percent to $248.2 million.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 66 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $248.0 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

In a conference call, the company backed its 2008 adjusted earnings outlook. In October 2007, Varian had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $2.84 to $2.98 for the year.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $2.77 per share, before special items.

Varian shares closed at $55.59 Wednesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Anuradha Ramanathan in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)