UPDATE 1-NZ's F&P Healthcare full year profit down 30 pct

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WELLINGTON May 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand medical equipment manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd FPH.NZ posted a 30 percent fall in full-year net profit on Wednesday, better than expectations, as a strong New Zealand dollar eroded overseas earnings.

F&P Healthcare, which makes products to treat breathing disorders and patient warmers, said the coming financial year would show an increase in operating profit if the New Zealand dollar NZD= held near current levels.

"The company's opportunities for growth continue to be very positive," chief executive Mike Daniell said in a statement.

The company, created from the split of manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Industries in 2001, is based in New Zealand but derives 60 percent of revenue from the United States, where it competes with Respironics Inc RESP.O and ResMed Inc (RMD.N) (RMD.AX).

The company said net profit after tax was NZ$35.3 million ($27.4 million) for the year ended March 31, compared with NZ$57.6 million a year earlier. A survey of nine analysts by Reuters estimates had forecast a net profit of NZ$34.8 million.

In early April the company cut its forecast for full year operating profit by 16 percent to NZ$58 million on the stronger kiwi dollar.

Daniell said if the kiwi dollar averages $0.75 over the next year, operating profit would rise by 20 percent, and if the currency averaged $0.80, operating profit would be flat.

It declared an unchanged final dividend of 7 cents a share. Revenue for the year grew 3 percent to NZ$357 million, led by demand for its breathing masks and humidifier systems.

The top-10 stock closed on Tuesday at NZ$2.76, having traded between NZ$2.50 and NZ$3.70 over the past 12 months. The shares have fallen 20.5 percent so far this year, compared with a 9.8 percent drop in the benchmark top 50 index .NZ50.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has seen steadily declining operating profits from the NZ$104.4 million it posted in the year to March 2006, as the kiwi dollar remained well above its long-term average and the company's forward currency cover gradually expired.

Since the start of Fisher & Paykel's financial year on April 1 2007, the NZ dollar NZD= has risen around 9.2 percent, touching a 23-year, post-float high in March of $0.8215.

Every one percentage point the kiwi gains against the U.S. dollar costs the company about NZ$2.5 million in operating profit, the company has said. (NZ$1=1.29) (Reporting by Adrian Bathgate)