UPDATE 2-Morgan Crucible profit up; sees beating FY market view

* Sees thermal ceramics sales picking up in H2 - CEO

* Looking to boost presence in emerging markets

* H1 adj pretax profit 35.9 mln stg vs 23.4 mln stg

* Ups interim dividend by 8 pct to 2.7p (Recasts; adds CEO and analyst comments)

By Juhi Arora

BANGALORE, July 28 (Reuters) - British industrial materials firm Morgan Crucible (MGCR.L) said its first-half adjusted pretax profit grew 53.4 percent on a strong order book, and forecast full-year results ahead of analysts' estimates.

Morgan Crucible, which provides carbon technology services for the aerospace and space exploration industries, raised its interim dividend by 8 percent to 2.7 pence.

"As we look towards the second half of the year, we would expect to see more of a growth pick-up in thermal ceramics," Chief Executive Mark Robertshaw told Reuters on Wednesday.

Robertshaw expects a 5 percent to 7 percent rise in sales for the unit, which makes a wide range of heat insulation products and generates a third of the group's revenue, in the second half over the first six months of the year.

While the company remained slightly cautious about global demand going forward, the CEO was confident of beating analysts' full-year estimate of an operating profit of 88 million pounds ($137.2 million) after restructuring, and revenue of 935 million pounds.

"There is potential upside to both revenue and margins as end-markets continue to recover," Investec Securities analyst Andrew Wilson said, upgrading the stock to "buy" from "hold".

The company, which generates more than 80 percent of its sales outside UK, said it planned to boost its presence in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil.

For the six months ended on July 4, Morgan Crucible reported an adjusted pretax profit of 35.9 million pounds, compared with 23.4 million pounds a year ago.

Revenue rose 1.8 percent to 501.1 million pounds.

Shares of the company were up 0.14 percent at 219.5 pence at 1200 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6413 Pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott and Gopakumar Warrier)