Fitch owner Fimalac H1 profits down

PARIS May 27 (Reuters) - Fimalac (LBCP.PA), the French holding company that owns credit rating agency Fitch, reported on Wednesday a 12 percent drop in first-half operating profit to 69.4 million euros as revenue fell.

Net profit sank to 0.8 million euros from 30.9 million euros in the same period a year ago.

Credit rating agencies Fitch, Moody's (MCO.N) and McGraw-Hill's Standard & Poor's (MHP.N) were widely criticised by regulators for failing to spot the size and risk of the U.S. housing debts that led to the financial crisis.

Fimalac's founder Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere owns around 74 percent of the firm's share capital.

Its shares closed up 0.23 percent at 38.60 euros on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by John Stonestreet)