Mauritius' Ciel Textile profit hit by restructuring costs

PORT LOUIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Mauritian clothing maker Ciel Textile said pre-tax profit dropped 16 percent in the first-half as a result of restructuring costs from its knitwear activities.

Ciel Textiles supplies woven, knitwear and fine knits to Britain's Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) and Next (Frankfurt: 779551 - news) and Spain's Zara, the owner of the Inditex (Amsterdam: IT6.AS - news) brand.

It said in a statement on Tuesday its pre-tax profit was 370.51 million rupees ($10 million) in the six months to Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) . 31.

Ciel Textiles, whose revenues fell to 5.44 billion rupees from 5.53 billion a year ago, said its order book for the second half of the year was showing "marginal improvement".

The company, which is listed on the island's secondary Development and Enterprise Market, said its earnings per share fell to 2.51 rupees from 3.42 rupees a year earlier.

($1 = 35.3500 Mauritius rupees) (Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff; Editing by Clement Uwiringiyimana and Alexander Smith)