Chemical maker Alent's profit rises on automotive products demand

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Speciality chemicals maker Alent Plc (LSE: ALNT.L - news) reported a 3.7 percent rise in half-year pretax profit, helped by increased volumes in automotive products and improved consumer sentiment elevating electronic products demand.

The company, which demerged from life sciences firm Cookson Plc in 2012, said foreign exchange rates remained a headwind.

Pretax profit rose to 41.8 million pounds ($70 million) for the six months ended June 30 from 40.3 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue fell 9.4 percent to 315.9 million pounds. ($1 = 0.5942 British Pounds) (Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)