UPDATE 1-Dignity profit rises; raises dividend

* Says FY expectations still positive and unchanged

* H1 adj pretax profit up 5.7 pct at 24 mln stg (Adds details)

July 30 (Reuters) - British funeral home and crematoria firm Dignity Plc (DTY.L) posted a 5.7 percent rise in first-half underlying pretax profit, helped by good operating results in the second quarter, and said its full-year expectations continued to be positive.

Dignity, the UK's only listed funeral services provider, raised its interim dividend by 10 percent to 4.43 pence.

For the six months ended June 25, pretax profit before items rose to 24 million pounds ($37.46 million) from 22.7 million pounds last year.

Revenue grew 5.5 percent to 100.9 million pounds.

Analysts on average were expecting a first-half pretax profit of 22.5 million pounds, on revenue of 100.5 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

On March 11, the company had given a positive outlook for the full year 2010 and said performance was in line with its expectations. [ID:nSGE62A08G]

Dignity shares closed at 682 pence on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6406 Pound) (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)