UPDATE 2-Kumba FY headline EPS up 43 pct as demand booms

(Adds details from CEO interview, shares)

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Kumba Iron Ore (KIOJ.J), Africa's biggest iron ore producer, posted a 43 percent leap in full-year headline earnings per share as prices and demand soared last year and it predicted an equally profitable 2008.

Kumba shares jumped more than 4 percent on the results and after Chief Executive Ras Myburgh said the company expected to raise 2008 production by 20 percent to 38.9 million tonnes, despite a domestic power crisis.

"The economies of China and the rest of Asia are expected to continue growing on the back of strong domestic demand and high levels of domestic fixed investment, providing continued strong growth in the demand for iron ore," Kumba said in a statement.

"As a result, prices are expected to increase substantially in the current iron ore year and remain firm in the medium term."

Myburgh said Kumba would plug energy gaps with diesel, helping it to improve on 2007's record production of 32.4 million tonnes. Increased production from its Sishen project is expected to add 13 million tonnes in 2009.

South Africa has asked miners to reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent to help ease pressure on the country's strained power grid.

Myburgh said even if the restrictions lasted until 2012 as reported, Kumba was prepared to limit the impact on production.

"If the crisis doesn't deepen and we only have to reduce (power consumption) by 10 percent, we believe the impact won't be significant," he told Reuters.

Demand from China in particular helped push revenue 33 percent higher and would continue to do so, even in the event of a slowdown in the global economy, the company said.

Headline EPS -- the key profit measure in South Africa, which excludes non-trading, capital and some extraordinary items -- rose to 974 cents in the year to end December.

Shares in Kumba were up 3.7 percent at 311.05 rand at 0946 GMT, outperforming a 1.6 percent gain in the JSE Top-40 index .JTOPI.

Kumba is majority owned by Anglo American (AAL.L) and emerged from the break-up of Kumba Resources. (Reporting by Gershwin Wanneburg)