Rewrites throughout, adds CEO comments in paragraphs 2-3, context, details and shares

By Neeshita Beura and Yadarisa Shabong

May 28 (Reuters) - British chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (JM) JMAT.L on Thursday agreed to buy Cormetech for $360 million, in a bid to tap demand for emission control tied to mushrooming U.S. data centres, even as it forecast slower profit growth for fiscal 2027.

"Nobody has a competitive offering like Cormetech for primary emission control in data centres," JM CEO Liam Condon told analysts. North Carolina-based Cormetech makes technologies used to cut greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas turbines and coal-fired power plants.

Data centres need to control their nitrogen oxide pollution, which is Cormetech's strength, and eliminate carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, which is JM's mainstay, Condon said.

The Cormetech deal marks Condon's first major acquisition after years of offloading assets to focus on emissions control and platinum group metals refining.

Johnson Matthey's largest unit, Clean Air, mainly makes pollution filters for internal combustion engine cars, but faces challenges as the automakers move to electric models.

The deal, expected to close in June or July, would add to Johnson Matthey's earnings from fiscal 2027.

Excluding Cormetech and the planned £1.33 billion divestment of Catalyst Technologies to Honeywell HON.O, JM expects group underlying operating profit to rise in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage for the year ending March 2027. The forecast marks a slowdown from the 14% growth it reported for fiscal 2026, partly due to loss provisions related to its U.S. refinery and higher maintenance costs linked to its UK refinery.

JM warned that heightened geopolitical uncertainty from the Middle East conflict could hurt future performance through global demand, supply chains, and inflation, although it saw no material impact in the last fiscal year.

The company's shares were down marginally by 1004 GMT.