UPDATE 2-Flowers Foods Q2 profit tops Street; cuts FY sales view

* Q2 adj EPS $0.31 vs est $0.29

* Q2 rev rises 13.6 pct to $614.4 mln * Cuts 2009 sales view to $2.65 bln-$2.68 bln

* Sees cost control offsetting weak foodservice demand

* Shares fall 4 pct (Recasts, adds conference call details, analyst comments)

By Mihir Dalal

BANGALORE, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Flowers Foods Inc (FLO.N) posted a quarterly profit that edged past market expectations and the bakery company backed its 2009 profit outlook as it sees tighter cost controls offsetting weak demand at its foodservice business.

Flowers Foods, which bought Holsum Bakery Inc and ButterKrust Bakery last year, cut its full-year sales outlook to a range of $2.65 billion to $2.68 billion, from its prior view of $2.72 billion to $2.77 billion.

Shares of the company fell 90 cents to $22.66 early trade Wednesday. They pared some of the losses later and were down 59 cents in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

On a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive George Deese cited increased promotional activity and a slight fall in volumes as reasons for the company's lowered sales view.

"Their foodservice segment has been hurt as consumers eat out less," said Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Mitchell Pinheiro, adding that the casual dining business had taken a bigger hit than the quick-serve business.

Flowers Foods, which saw declining volumes in the latest second quarter at its foodservice and vending businesses, expects the pressure to continue in the second half, a company executive said during the call.

He said that its foodservice business was down in Florida and Arizona, which have been hit hard by the housing downturn.

The Thomasville, Georgia-based company, which saw input costs rise sharply in the first two quarters, is banking on costs to reduce in the back half of the year to partially offset lower-than-expected sales.

"As they hedge their input costs, they know what their costs are going to be, and their core retail bread market is very stable. So I expect them to meet their earnings guidance despite the cut in sales view," analyst Pinheiro told Reuters.

Flowers Foods said higher ingredient costs in the second quarter were offset by improved manufacturing efficiencies, while packaging and labor costs fell as a percent of sales.

For the quarter ended July 18, net income attributable to Flowers Foods rose to $30.3 million, or 33 cents a share, from $23.9 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, it earned 31 cents a share, topping analysts' average estimate of 29 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 13.6 percent to $614.4 million.

"It was an excellent quarter for the company with earnings growing by 19 percent...hard to find a food company coming anywhere close to that kind of growth," analyst Pinheiro said. (Editing by Deepak Kannan and Gopakumar Warrier)