UPDATE 2-Oce Q2 misses estimates, shares at 3-mth low

* Sees no improvement in relevant markets in H2

* Search for strategic partner difficult due to economy

* Shares down 10 pct at 3-month low

(Adds CFO comment, shares, analyst comment)

AMSTERDAM, July 2 (Reuters) - Dutch photocopier and printer maker Oce NV (OCEN.AS) posted a 14 million euros ($19.7 million) second-quarter net loss, missing analyst expectations and sending shares to 3-month low on Thursday.

Analysts had expected a net loss of 9 million euros for the March-May period.

The company also said its search for a strategic partnership to increase its scale was going more slowly than expected.

Chief Executive Rokus van Iperen said in a statement market conditions were "more challenging than in the first quarter" and added he did not anticipate an improvement of relevant markets for the second half of 2009.

Oce shares were down 9.9 percent at 3.52 euros by 0921 GMT, after hitting a 3-month low of 3.32 earlier during the session. The shares were underperforming a 0.5 percent lower Amsterdam midcap index .AMX.

The company, which makes printers, copiers and scanners and offers document management and maintenance services, said its factory in the German town of Poing was producing at less than 50 percent of its capacity, while production volumes at the Venlo plant are down 20 percent.

Oce said it would cut 300 additional jobs, resulting in a total job reduction of 2,350 in the 2008-2010 period.

"Increased cost reductions did not prove to be sufficient given the continued deterioration and additional measures were announced at the second quarter results," SNS Securities analyst Maarten Altena said, adding that he did not expect the printing industry to improve in the coming period.

The Venlo-based company also said its search for a strategic partner to increase its scale, such as the one it already has with Konica Minolta (4902.T), was not going as fast as it would like.

"This has not become easier due to the economic circumstances. Everybody is busy with their own problems," Oce's Chief Financial Officer Hans Kerkhoven told Reuters in an interview, declining to give a timeline for when a deal could be announced.

"We are busy but we can't say when this will happen."

Oce, which competes with Xerox (XRX.N), Konica Minolta and Canon (6344.OS), said in May it had amended its loan covenants allowing its net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) ratio to rise to as much as 3.25.

"We had to amend our loan covenant because we wanted to speed up job reductions," Kerkhoven said. In the new covenants restructuring charges are excluded.

At the end of the second quarter the ratio was 2.4 based on the new covenants and 2.8 under the old covenants, Oce said. ($1=.7107 euros)