UPDATE 1-Aveng two-year order book swells, H1 profit drops

* Headline EPS down to 163.4 cts vs 244.4 cts

* Sees better H2 revenue

* Identified order book at 102 bln rand

(Adds details, background)

JOHANNESBURG, March 17 (Reuters) - Aveng (AEGJ.J), Africa's largest construction company by market value, said on Wednesday its two year order book rose by 8 percent to 32.7 billion rand ($4.41 billion) despite construction projects related to 2010 World Cup coming to an end.

The South African-based group, which has completed building the Soccer City stadium that will host this year's World Cup final, said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December dropped to 163.4 cents compared to 244.4 cents in the previous period.

The company said its revenue fell 5 percent to 16.8 billion rand and its identified total project pipeline amounts to about 102 billion rand.

Aveng sees second half revenue improving marginally compared to the first half.

Rival Murray & Roberts (MURJ.J) last month posted a 34 percent drop in half-year profit as the World Cup boom played itself out and WBHO (WBOJ.J) gave a cautious outlook for the next two years after it reported a 19 percent rise in first-half profit. [ID:nLDE61M1IZ] [ID:nLDE61M035]

Group Five (GRFJ.J) earlier this month reported an 8.3 percent increase in first-half profit and said it was well positioned to weather tough short-term conditions and to take advantage of any upturn. [ID:nLDE623045] (Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie)