Schroders posts forecast-beating H1, cautions on outlook

* H1 adjusted pretax profit 305.7 mln pounds

* Net inflows at 8.8 bln pounds vs forecast 8.1 bln

* Market volatility to dampen short-term sentiment

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Schroders (LSE: SDR.L - news) , Britain's biggest listed asset manager posted forecast-beating first-half profit on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its fixed income products.

Fund firms globally have taken in billions in new money over recent months as investors desperately search for returns amid low interest rates, taking on higher levels of risk and pushing some markets to record highs even though growth remains patchy.

That helped the firm's pretax profit for the six months to end-June, adjusted for the costs of previous acquisitions, to rise 17 percent to 305.7 million pounds ($476.62 million), beating a company supplied consensus estimate of 300 million pounds.

Net flows of new cash into its various funds, which focus heavily on equity and multi-asset, along with fixed income, emerging market debt, commodities and real estate across the globe, hit 8.8 billion pounds, up from 4.8 billion pounds a year earlier and beating consensus estimates for 8.1 billion.

While net flows had been positive across its different funds, Schroders gave a cautious outlook, based on increased market volatility that would likely depress investor sentiment going forward.

"In the short term, with continuing uncertainty in the eurozone and China and the prospect of interest rate rises in the US, market volatility is likely to remain high which may impact retail investor demand in particular," the company said in a statement.

($1 = 0.6414 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Jessop, editing by Sinead Cruise)