UPDATE 1-Ricardo H1 pretax profit up 11 pct

* H1 revenue grows slightly
* Cuts costs due to tough markets
* Raises interim div by 3 pct
(Adds details)
Feb 27 (Reuters) - Ricardo Plc , an engineering
and automotive consultancy group, on Friday reported a 11
percent rise in first-half pretax profit helped by robust
pricing, improved project delivery and cost savings.
The company, which works closely with leading motor
manufacturers including General Motors Corp , Ford Motor
Co and Honda <7267.T> also said it was actively cutting
costs in anticipation of the currently difficult market
conditions being prolonged.
It raised interim dividend by 3 percent to 3.2 pence.
For the six months ended Dec. 31, 2008, pretax profit rose
to 6.2 million pounds ($8.9 million) from 5.6 million pounds a
year ago.
Ricardo, which faced significant cancellations from the
struggling passenger car market, said its first-half revenue
grew slightly to 96.6 million pounds from 95.2 million pounds.
Ricardo shares, which have lost more than 40 percent of
their value over the past 12 months, closed at 181.50 pence on
Thursday.
($1=.6986 Pound)
(Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by
Gopakumar Warrier)
((tresa.sherin@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7717; Reuters
Messaging: tresa.sherin@thomsonreuters.com))
Keywords: RICARDO/

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