UPDATE 1-Assura FY loss narrows, says trading ahead of budget

* Group trading loss 2.7 mln stg vs co's est 4 mln stg

* Co not to pay final dividend

* Says revenue up 42 pct on annualised basis

* Says current trading ahead of last year, budget (Adds details)

June 30 (Reuters) - British healthcare firm Assura Group Ltd (AGRP.L) posted a narrower trading loss that beat its estimates on strong revenue growth and said trading in the new financial year was ahead of last year and the budget.

Adjusted trading loss for the year to March 31 was 2.7 million pounds ($4.5 million), on revenue of 48.3 million pounds, while Assura had expected a trading loss of about 4 million pounds.

In the 15 months to March 31, 2008, Assura had posted a pretax profit of 12.6 million pounds, on revenue of 40.1 million pounds.

The owner of GP services said it would not pay a final dividend for the year ended March 31.

"We are focusing on execution and moving our business towards profitability," Chief Executive Richard Burrell said in a statement on Tuesday.

Assura said it continued to see new opportunities emerge in the National Health Service as the British government increasingly opens up the provision of NHS services to the private sector.

Assura now has sufficient long-term financing in place to execute its revised strategy of focusing on GP Provider Organisations, it said. The company said its property portfolio had been significantly written down to the tune of 56 million pounds and it had a 31 million pound unrealised deficit on its interest rate swaps.

Assura said that on an annualised basis, its revenue rose 42 percent for the year to March.

On Monday, Assura shares closed at 32.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6013 Pound) (Reporting by Austin Lobo in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)