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 (RCDO.L), 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 GM.N, Ford Motor Co (F.N) 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)
