UPDATE 1-RPS tanks as Australia weakness hurts annual result outlook

(Adds details on results, background, shares)

June 26 (Reuters) - Professional services company RPS Group Plc said on Wednesday that it expects full-year profit and revenue to be much lower than market and management expectations, as slower economic growth in Australia crimps spending on infrastructure projects, sending its shares down 40%.

RPS said public sector infrastructure spending had been hurt by recent state elections in Victoria in late November and in New South Wales in March this year.

"Both elections resulted in the return of the existing majority governments but there has been some hiatus in infrastructure spend that will impact RPS' full year results," the company said.

RPS' shares were 37.1% lower at 106.8 pence at 0752 GMT.

"It's disappointing that softness in Australia is having a negative impact on group performance in FY-2019, despite progress in other segments such as Energy and Norway," Chief Executive Officer John Douglas said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Australian economy is experiencing its slowest growth since 2009, RPS said, adding that its Australia Asia Pacific (AAP) business has a mix of public and private sector work, with a major focus on public sector work.

RPS was founded in 1970 and provides services in six sectors including property, energy, transport, water, defence and government services and resources.

The company said the consensus estimate for 2019 fee income was 596 million pounds ($755.31 million), with profit before tax and amortisation (PBTA) of 49.9 million pounds.

RPS in February reported 6.8% fall in full-year PBTA to 50.2 million pounds

($1 = 0.7891 pounds) (Reporting by Samantha Machado and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Bernard Orr)