REFILE-Australia's Brambles H1 profit rises 11 pct, reaffirms FY guidance

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SYDNEY, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Brambles , the world's largest provider of pallets, said on Wednesday its first-half underlying net profit rose 11 percent, driven by modest improvement in its key markets of the U.S. and western Europe.

The company, which has spun off its Recall data management business to focus on its core pallet business, reaffirmed its 2014 full year guidance, expecting underlying profit to be within the previous guidance range of $930 million to 965 million.

Brambles said its net profit from continuing operations rose to $280.4 million for the six months ending December, from $252.9 million a year ago. That was slightly lower than three analysts' mean forecast of $289.9 million, according to Reuters calculation.

Underlying profit, before significant items, rose to $458.1 million, a 10 percent rise from $417.6 million a year ago, but still shy of analyst forecasts of $479.8 million.

Brambles shares have gained 13 percent over the past year, against a 6.5 percent rise in the broader market. It closed at A$8.83 on Tuesday.

($1 = 1.1071 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Diane Craft)

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

Keywords: AUSTRALIA BRAMBLES/