UPDATE 2-World Acceptance Q1 profit beats market, shrs up 14 pct

* Q1 adj EPS $0.81 vs est $0.69

* Revenue up 13 pct at $100.2 mln

* Says loan demand rises

* Shares rise as much as 14 percent (Adds conference call details, analyst's comments, share movement)

By Abhinav Sharma

BANGALORE, July 29 (Reuters) - Consumer finance company World Acceptance Corp (WRLD.O) posted a higher quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates, helped mainly by an increase in loan demand, sending its shares up as much as 14 percent.

Loan volume for the first quarter rose 20 percent from the year-ago period as traditional financing sources became more difficult to obtain for some borrowers, the company said.

The company said on a conference call it slowed down on office expansion, which helped it to focus on delinquencies and charge-offs over the past several months.

World Acceptance, which offers loans to individuals with limited access to credit, plans to open 30 branches in the U.S. and 15 in Mexico during the year.

"Since they are not adding new branches this year in any large manner, you're going to see a slightly better performance because it's the new branches that always produce the highest losses," Sterne Agee analyst Henry Coffey told Reuters.

The analyst attributed high loan growth during the quarter to historical branch openings.

The company opened 5 branches during the quarter.

World Acceptance also said it expects net charge-offs to stabilize for the remainder of the year.

Net charge-offs as percentage of average loans was 13.8 percent, compared with 14.5 percent in the year-ago period.

The Greenville, South Carolina-based company reported a net income of $14.6 million, or 90 cents a share, for the first quarter ended June 30, compared with $11.3 million, or 68 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time gains resulted from repayment of debt, the company earned 81 cents per share during the quarter.

Analysts' on average had expected the company to earn 69 cents a share, excluding special items, according to Reuters Estimates.

Total revenue rose 13.4 percent to $100.2 million, while provision for loan losses rose 14.4 percent to $20.4 million.

Shares of the company were up 5 percent at $25.80 Wednesday afternoon on Nasdaq. They traded as high as $28.07 earlier in the day. (Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Unnikrishnan Nair)