M'bishi Estate H1 profit down 22 pct, keeps forecast

TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Estate Co (8802.T), Japan's second-largest property developer, reported a 22 percent fall in first-half profit on Friday, hurt by sluggish apartment sales, but it stuck to its full-year forecast.

Mitsubishi Estate, which owns the U.S. Rockefeller Group and several buildings in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district, said group operating profit came to 59.1 billion yen ($646 million) in the April-September period from 75.5 billion yen a year earlier. The result missed the company's forecast of 66.5 billion yen in profit.

For the full year to March, the developer stuck to its operating profit forecast of 142 billion yen, slightly above a consensus estimate for a 137.7 billion yen profit in a survey of 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Mitsubishi Estate shares, more than a third-owned by foreign investors, have fallen about 10 percent in the last 12 months, underperforming a 32 percent jump in the benchmark Nikkei 225 average .N225.

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura)

((mariko.katsumura@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1811; Reuters Messaging: mariko.katsumura.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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