UPDATE 1-Brush Engineered posts wider-than-expected Q1 loss

* Q1 loss $0.36/shr vs est. loss/shr $0.21

* Q1 revenue $135.4 mln beats est. of $131.3 mln

* Sees smaller Q2 loss

* Sees Q2 sales rise 15 pct

April 30 (Reuters) - Brush Engineered Materials Inc (BW.N), a maker of precious and specialty metal products, posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, but said it expects to post a smaller second-quarter loss, compared with the latest quarter.

The company also said that it expects second-quarter sales to rise by about 15 percent to a range of $150 million to $160 million, due to a fall in customer inventory.

In the latest quarter, the company swung to a net loss of $8.1 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with a profit of $4.6 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The company said the first-quarter loss includes an inventory writedown of 5 cents a share, severance costs of 3 cents a share and a pension benefit of 4 cents a share.

Brush Engineered recently cut its workforce by 15 percent and slashed the salaries of its senior executives and annual cash retainer fees of board members by 10 percent.

Net sales for the quarter dropped 40 percent to $135.4 million.

Shares of the Cleveland, Ohio-based company were trading up more than a percent at $16.78 in early morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the alerts, please click [ID:nWNAB0005]. (Reporting by Antonita Madonna Devotta in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)