UPDATE 2-UK's Man Group profit beats forecast, assets rise

* Funds under management $44 bln at end-Sept

* Net outflows $1.9 bln

* Pretax profit for 6 months to Sept $302 mln

* Interim dividend maintained at 19.2 cents a share (Adds detail, CEO comment)

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Hedge fund firm Man Group Plc reported higher than expected profits, helped by an uptick in fund performance and a rebound in assets, confirming it is recovering from the industry's toughest period on record.

The world's largest listed hedge fund manager said pretax profit more than halved to $302 million in the six months to end-September from $622 million a year before, although this was 8 percent above the group's estimate in September.

This was boosted by performance fees from a fund based on its flagship AHL strategy, which has performed poorly this year but has seen positive returns over the three months to Sept. 30.

Assets under management, on which fund firms earn fees, rose to $44 billion at end-September, up from a trough of $43.3 billion reached at the end of June, and were little changed at the end of October.

The firm is still seeing net outflows to institutional investors but assets have been lifted by lower withdrawals by clients and sales to private investors in Asia. Chief Executive Peter Clarke told Reuters the firm is still on track to see net sales to institutional investors at some point before March, helped by interest in its segregated accounts.

Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) shares edged up 0.3 percent to 325.9p by 0813 GMT. (Reporting by Laurence Fletcher; Editing by David Holmes) (To read the Reuters Hedge Fund Blog click on http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub; for the Global Investing Blog click on http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/)