Australia's Boral shares jump after strong H1 results, better outlook

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Shares in Australia's Boral Ltd

jumped as much as 7 percent on Wednesday to their highest in almost three years after it reported a 73 percent rise in first-half net profit.

The building materials maker said it expects strong improvement in its construction materials arm and a return to profitability for its U.S. business in the second half of this year.

It reported a 73 percent rise in net profit before one-offs to A$90 million ($81 million) for the six months to Dec. 31, in line with its Jan. 28 forecast.

Boral shares jumped as much as 7 percent to A$5.33, their highest since March 2011, and were up 5.8 percent at A$5.29 at 2311 GMT.

(Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Paul Tait)

((maggie.luyueyang@thomsonreuters.com)(+61 2 93731819)(Reuters Messaging: maggie.luyueyang.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: AUSTRALIA BORAL/SHARES