UPDATE 2-Kewill profit up; to raise 7.5 mln stg via placing

* H1 pretax profit up 48 pct to 549,000 stg

* Revenue rises 11 pct to 27.2 mln stg

* Interim dividend up 17 pct to 0.35p/shr

* To place 8.1 mln shares at 92 pence apiece

* Shares up 6 pct (Adds CEO comments)

By Purwa Naveen Raman

BANGALORE, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Software firm Kewill Plc (KWL.L) posted a 48 percent rise in first-half pretax profit, increased its dividend, and said it would raise 7.5 million pounds ($12.51 million) through a placing to fund future acquisitions, sending its shares up 6 percent.

The company, which supplies software to the global logistics sector, said it was confident of the full-year results, helped by new contract wins.

"Combining that (contract wins) with our continued focus on the strong cost control gives us confidence that we can meet what the market is expecting for the full year," Chief Executive Paul Nichols said by phone.

Full-year consensus profit before tax and amortization is just under 8.5 million pounds on revenue of about 54.5 million pounds, according to the company.

Kewill said it would place about 8.1 million shares at 92 pence apiece, a discount of 0.5 percent to the stock's Monday closing of 92.50 pence.

M&A ON CARDS

Kewill sees the fundraising as a way forward to pursue acquisitions more aggressively.

"We have a long list of companies that we have been tracking over a period of time," Nichols said, adding the company would have about 8 million to 10 million pounds available for acquisitions.

While Kewill is considering different areas and companies for buyouts, it is mainly looking out in the areas of compliance and logistics.

"We also see a good opportunity for the small to medium enterprise market place and one of the things that we will consider is whether we can accelerate our growth in that market," he said.