UPDATE 1-Maroc Telecom's Q3 operating profit falls 4.3 pct

* Operating profit down 3.6 bln dirhams

* Turnover down 0.6 pct at 7.83 bln dirhams

* Client numbers up 11 pct at 21.4 mln

(Adds analyst comment)

RABAT, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Maroc Telecom (IAM.CS) reported a 4.3 percent drop in third-quarter operating profit on Thursday, though it was stepping up investment and efforts to keep subscriber numbers growing, the company said.

Operating profit fell to 3.6 billion dirhams ($466.4 million), while turnover was down 0.6 percent at 7.83 billion dirhams, Morocco's dominant phone company said in a statement.

Its client base rose 11 percent to 21.4 million in the year to the end of September.

If current market conditions continue, the company should achieve sales growth of 2 percent and an operating margin of around 45 percent in the full year, it said.

"That's practically in line with our forecasts," said BMCE analyst Hicham Saadani, who pointed to a strong performance in the company's domestic mobile operations in the first nine months of the year.

"What is excellent to note is that ARPU (average revenue per user) was only down 2.5 percent to 97.2 dirhams, even after they made a big commercial effort during the summer," he said.

BMCE has an "add" rating on the stock and a 159 dirham price target.

The shares opened down 0.34 percent at 143.9 dirhams on Thursday morning in Casablanca. They have climbed back from a year low of 133.6 dirhams in mid-September.

Maroc Telecom's smaller rivals are Meditel and Wana, both owned by Moroccan investors. (Reporting by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Will Waterman) ($1=7.719 Moroccan dirhams)