UPDATE 2-James Fisher profit up; sees spot markets staying weak

* To focus on Asia-Pacific acquisitions - Chairman

* To set aside $10-$15 mln for bolt-on deals

* Adj pretax profit 13.5 mln stg vs 13.0 mln stg yr ago

* Ups interim dividend by 5 pct to 5.04p (Recasts; adds chairman, analyst comments)

By Anirban Sen

BANGALORE, Aug 23 (Reuters) - UK's James Fisher & Sons (FSJ.L) posted a 4 percent rise in first-half pretax profit on the strength of its specialist technical unit, but the marine services provider forecast spot markets remaining weak in the summer months.

The company, whose services include ship-to-ship oil transfer at sea and submarine rescue, boosted its interim dividend by 5 percent to 5.04 pence and said trading in the second half-to-date had been in line with its own view.

"Shipping cycles tend to go out or come in, they're like the tide, and it looks like the tide's now turned, so we believe that things are improving," Chairman Tim Harris told Reuters on Monday.

He said the Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria-based company planned to set aside about $10-$15 million for small bolt-on acquisitions, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

"There's quite considerable offshore activity off the west coast of Australia at the moment...Asia-Pacific is the region to be," the chairman said.

He added James Fisher, whose clients include BP (BP.L) (BP.N), Total (TOTF.PA) and Technip (TECF.PA), would focus on offshore oil and specialist technical sectors.

For the six months ended June 30, adjusted pretax profit was 13.5 million pounds ($21 million), compared with 13 million pounds in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 1 percent to 131.6 million pounds. Sales in the specialist technical unit, which includes nuclear decommissioning services, grew 17.6 percent to 58.9 million pounds.

While analysts were expecting the company's marine oil division to post a small loss in the first half, the unit saw year-over-year profit unchanged at 657,000 pounds.

"Crucially, volumes and spot prices have modestly improved, though not sufficiently to get too excited about," analyst Adrian Kearsey at Evolution Securities wrote in a note to clients.

James Fisher's shares, which have gained nearly 14 percent in the last three months, were flat at 455 pence at 1046 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6438 Pound) (Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)