CORRECTED-UPDATE 2-Senior H1 in line; Boeing delay not issue

(Corrects analysts previous forecast figure in line 24 to 38.5 mln stg from 28.5)

* H1 adjusted pretax down 20 pct at 23.5 mln pounds

* Maintains interim dividend at 0.9 p/shr

* Says Boeing may even award more work after 787 delays

* Shares rise 0.6 pct (Recasts with CEO comments, adds shares, analysts)

By Victoria Bryan

Aug 3 (Reuters) - British aerospace engineer Senior Plc (SNR.L) met expectations with a 20 percent fall in first-half pretax profit and said the further delays to customer Boeing's (BA.N) 787 programme would not particularly hurt the company.

Senior Chief Executive Mark Rollins told Reuters the latest delay to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner schedule could even lead to more work for Senior, which currently expects to gain $800,000 in sales from each 787 aircraft that it supplies.

"We only had $10 million worth of sales from the programme pencilled in for this year and the same for 2010," said Rollins.

"They may even still take $10 million, depending on how quickly they get it flying. But we are talking with Boeing about what else they could give us, so we may win some extra work because of the delay."

Analysts currently expect the company to report pretax profit of around 40 million pounds ($66.98 million) for the year, according to Reuters Estimates.

Rollins said he expected this consensus to move upwards slightly as analysts with forecasts at the lower end of the range adjust their numbers following the first-half figures.

Brewin Dolphin in response said it was increasing its 2009 forecast to 40.5 million pounds from 38.5 million, and Investec analysts said they also expected to upgrade their forecasts by 5 percent.

"Whilst the outlook continues to look challenging, Senior is a survivor, in our view, and looks set to exit the downturn stronger than it went in," wrote Investec analyst Chris Dyett.

Senior, which also supplies parts for land vehicles, said its defence markets were expected to remain healthy and now accounted for 16 percent of its total business, up from 12 percent previously.

Rollins said the company did not expect a recovery in the business jet market during the second-half, although land vehicle markets, which were weaker then expected during the first half, had shown some signs of improvement.

It maintained its interim dividend at 0.90 pence per share after strong cash generation enabled it to reduce net debt by 47 million pounds during the period to 127.4 million pounds.

Adjusted pretax profit for the six months to June 30 declined by 20 percent to 23.5 million pounds, while revenue dropped 1 percent to 275.9 million pounds.

Shares in Senior, which have outperformed other London-listed aerospace and defence companies .FTASX2710 by 9 percent over the last three months, were up 0.6 percent at 40.5 pence at 1034 GMT. (Additional reporting by Kumar Alagappan in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott and Rupert Winchester)