UPDATE 1-Laird profit doubles; confident of further progress

* H1 adj pretax profit 15.1 mln stg vs 7.6 mln stg

* Declares interim dividend of 2.1p (Adds details)

July 29 (Reuters) - British electronics group Laird Plc (LRD.L) said first-half adjusted pretax profit doubled, driven by strong results from its performance-materials and wireless-systems units, and that it was confident of further progress.

The FTSE 250 company, whose electromagnetic shielding devices are used in products such as laptops and mobile phones, said on Thursday it declared an interim dividend of 2.1 pence.

The interim dividend of 3.47 pence in 2009 had been restated to reflect a rights issue in October last year.

"The majority of our markets have continued to show a recovery from the depressed conditions of 2009," Chief Executive Peter Hill said in a statement.

For the six months ended June 30, pretax profit before items rose to 15.1 million pounds ($23.55 million) from 7.6 million pounds. Revenue from continuing operations grew 3 percent to 274.6 million pounds.

Analysts on average were expecting a first-half pretax profit of 13 million pounds, on revenue of 253 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Laird shares closed at 109.7 pence Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6413 Pound) (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)