UPDATE 1-Lifeway Foods posts higher Q2 profit

* Q2 EPS 15 cents vs 5 cents a year ago

* Q2 sales $14.5 mln vs $11.5 mln a year ago

* Shares up 5 pct in trading after the bell

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Lifeway Foods Inc (LWAY.O), a supplier of yogurt-like dairy beverage kefir, posted a nearly three-fold rise in quarterly profit, helped by lower milk costs.

For the second quarter, the company earned $2.5 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with about $911,000, or 5 cents a share, last year.

Sales rose 26 percent to $14.5 million, helped by the acquisition of kefir maker Fresh Made Dairy.

"We were aided by low raw material costs and low conventional milk prices, which remained at second-quarter lows during July and August," Chief Financial Officer Edward Smolyansky said in a statement.

Lifeway shares were trading up 5 percent at $13.10 in after-hours trade. They closed at $12.53 Thursday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Vidya Lakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)