UPDATE 2-Nampak sees tough H2, struggles to offload assets

* Profits hit by currency adjustments

* Trading profit up 2.5 pct

* Sees "no dramatic improvement" for rest of year * Says few buyers for assets it's trying to sell

(Recasts with CEO comments)

By Tiisetso Motsoeneng

JOHANNESBURG, May 21 (Reuters) - Africa's biggest packaging firm, Nampak (NPKJ.J), expects no sharp upturn in business in the coming months after a tough first half as it struggles to find buyers for assets it wants to sell under a turnaround plan.

Nampak, which supplies plastic milk bottles to Britain and operates in 12 African countries, posted a 39.1 percent drop in first-half profit on Thursday due to fair value adjustments on foreign exchange contracts, and said trading since the start of April had been quiet.

"We are not expecting any dramatic improvement in the second half," CEO Andrew Marshall said in a telephone interview.

Marshall, who has been at helm for just over two months, said the company would focus on selling or turning around non-core and underperforming assets under a three-year plan launched in September to boost flagging earnings while fending off a takeover bid by Bidvest (BVTJ.J).

He said interested buyers were scant because of tight credit markets. The firm has not specified which assets it is selling.

"It's difficult to sell in this environment. There are few buyers out there and those that are interested don't have the funds," he said.

Nampak, which makes packaging products from metal, glass, paper and plastic, said headline EPS, the main profit gauge in South Africa, fell to 66.9 cents, in line with its own forecast for a 35-45 percent decline.

It was knocked by a tax provision and a 63 million rand ($7.54 million) loss on the fair value of financial instruments, compared to a gain the previous year.

The company said trading income for the six months to end March rose 2.5 percent to 781.4 million rand and revenue increased 13.7 percent to 10.1 billion rand, boosted by lower raw material costs.

Shares in Nampak (NPKJ.J) rose 0.38 percent to 13.30 rand by 1414 GMT, outpacing a 1.14 percent drop in the JSE's mid cap index .JMIDC.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)