UPDATE 3-Nutreco H1 oper profit falls, sees H2 improvement

* Sales, profit in line with forecasts

* Operating profit decline due to European feed business

* Shares up on positive second-half outlook

(Adds analyst comment, shares)

AMSTERDAM, July 30 (Reuters) - Dutch food group Nutreco (NUTR.AS) said on Thursday its first-half operating profit fell by half on weak demand for animal feeds, but a projected second-half improvement pushed its shares higher.

Half-year earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) fell to 41.6 million euros ($58.9 million) from 82 million a year ago, compared with the average forecast of 41 million euros from six analysts polled by Reuters.

Sales at Nutreco, which produces animal and fish feed and is a major poultry processor, fell 8.5 percent to 2.13 billion euros, compared with analysts' forecast for 2.12 billion euros.

Nutreco, which had warned investors in April that it was facing half-year declines in sales and profit, blamed the drop on its European Compound feed unit due to a one-off charge of about 20 million euros, which resulted in a 13 million euro loss for the unit.

Nutreco said in a statement that the business would return to profitability in the second-half and would produce "marginal profitability" for 2009.

"Demand for food will increase again as the global economies recover and population numbers rise," Nutreco Chief Executive Wout Dekker said in a statement.

Nutreco also said its recent acquisition of 12 compound feed plants in Spain and Portugal would help it win market share.

The company's shares rose 1.3 percent to 27.99 euros, while the broader Amsterdam mid-cap index .AMX was up 0.5 percent.

"Considering the decline in volume and the one-off at Compound Feed, results are not that bad, while we are pleased with the second-half guidance," Petercam analyst Ferand de Boer said in a note.

Net profit for the first-half fell 76 percent to 12.3 million euros, compared with 51.3 million euros a year earlier and the forecast for 15 million euros.

The company added it would pay an interim dividend of 0.2 euro per share. ($1=.7069 Euro) (Reporting by Reed Stevenson, editing by Will Waterman)