UPDATE 2-Regis Q3 results beat Street, declines to give outlook

* Q3 adj EPS $0.50 vs est of $0.40; rev beats estimate

* Q3 same-store sales fall 4.5 pct

* Q4 same-store sales will be "likely in the negative"

* Says to pay down about $30 mln-$50 mln debt in FY10

* Shares rise as much as 7 pct (Adds conference call details, share movement)

April 29 (Reuters) - Hair-salon operator Regis Corp (RGS.N) posted a third-quarter adjusted profit that topped Wall Street estimates, helped by lower expenses, but said it would not provide earnings and revenue outlook for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2010.

"It is still far too difficult to predict how long and how deep this recession will be," Chief Executive Paul Finkelstein said in a statement.

The company, which operates Vidal Sassoon and Supercuts beauty salon chains, said same-store sales could be in a range of -3 percent to 1 percent in fiscal 2010.

In the fourth quarter, same-store sales "will be likely in the negative", the company said on a conference call.

However, the cost-saving measures will offset the drop in same-store sales, the company said, adding that it expects to save about $22 million in the current financial year.

Total capital expenditures and acquisition spend is expected to be $90 million to $100 million for the year, down about $35 million last year.

Regis, which plans to close its underperforming stores in the UK, said it expects to pay down about $30 million to $50 million debt in fiscal 2010.

For the third-quarter ended March 31, the company earned $21.0 million, or 49 cents a share on continuing operations, compared with $19.1 million, or 44 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, it earned 50 cents a share.

Revenue dropped 2.4 percent to $604 million in the period.

Analysts on average were looking for earnings of 40 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $586.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

General and administrative expenses fell 11 percent to $69.6 million in the quarter.

Shares of Minneapolis-based Regis were trading up $1.05 at $18.54 Wednesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a high of $18.74 earlier in the day.

For related alerts, double click [ID:nWNAB9848] (Reporting by Renju Jose in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy, Himani Sarkar)