UPDATE 3-Sorouh Real Estate sees Q3 profit growth versus Q2

* Expects Q3 profit growth of up to 15 pct from Q2

* No plans to sell land, units until mid-2010

* Q2 net profit decline sends shares lower

(Adds analyst comment)

By Stanley Carvalho

ABU DHABI, July 22 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's Sorouh Real Estate SOR.AD expects profit growth of upto 15 percent in the third quarter over the previous period on sales and leasing of property to be delivered next quarter.

The second-largest listed developer in Abu Dhabi by market capitalisation has no plans to make new land or unit sales until mid-2010, awaiting a pick-up in demand and prices, its chief strategy officer Paul Warren told Reuters on Wednesday.

Sorouh posted a second-quarter net profit of 150.98 million dirhams ($41.08 million), down 75.5 percent from the year-earlier period, driving shares down 2.27 percent to a close of 2.56 dirhams a share.

The results fell short of two analysts' forecasts in a Reuters survey earlier this month. [ID:nL6316711]

"Our first unit sales will be coming in and there would also be some lease and rental income," Warren said, referring to the planned hand over of 500 homes at its Golf Garden project next quarter.

The bulk of Sorouh's revenues in the first half this year comprised of income from sales of land and some lease and investment income, he said.

"Don't expect sales (of units) for this year and early next year. We are restructuring some projects and will be back into the market in mid-2010 with real products," he said.

Revenues for the half of 2009 fell to 1.3 billion dirhams, compared with 1.69 billion dirhams in 2008. Second quarter revenues were down to 978 million dirhams from 1.1 billion dirhams in the same period last year, the firm said in a statement.

But cost of revenue (infrastructure costs) went up significantly to 818.54 million dirhams in the second quarter versus 293.66 million dirhams in the quarter last year, lowering profits, Warren said.

"Earnings were slightly ahead of our expectations because sales were considerably higher and margins considerably lower due to a one-off transaction," said Saud Masud, real estate and construction analyst at UBS.

"Our view on the business model and outlook remains unchanged."

Developers across the United Arab Emirates have suffered from the impact of the global financial crisis which put an end to a six-year construction boom.

The downturn has brought the cancellation of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of projects in the recent months while valuations and sales have slumped. (Editing by Jason Benham and David Cowell)