Brewin Dolphin H1 funds up 6.8 pct, boosted by markets, inflows

* Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) funds under management 37.8 bln stg

* Discretionary fund net inflows 1.1 bln stg

* Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) income 147.4 mln stg; interim dividend 4.25 pence (Adds detail from statement, CEO quote)

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - British wealth manager Brewin Dolphin on Wednesday posted a 6.8 percent rise in first-half funds under management, boosted by market gains and net inflows.

Brewin, which offers financial planning and investment services to a range of retail and institutional clients, said it had seen strong demand across its range of products and was well placed to grow further despite political uncertainty in Britain.

Total funds at the end of the period were 37.8 billion pounds ($48.89 billion), driven by investment gains of 1.8 billion pounds and net inflows of 600 million pounds. Over the same period, the FTSE 100 index rose 6.1 percent.

"The Group has had a successful first half of 2017 in a period with a favourable market environment," Chief Executive David Nicoll said in the statement.

"We remain confident in the prospects for continued long-term growth in our business, despite the backdrop of political uncertainty in the UK," he said, as Britain gears up for a general election and an exit from the European Union.

At 0703 GMT, shares in Brewin Dolphin (Other OTC: BDNHF - news) were up 0.9 percent, outpacing an FTSE mid-cap index down 0.3 percent.

Brewin has focused on building its discretionary funds business in recent years and the unit, which manages money directly on behalf of clients, enjoyed strong growth in the six months to the end of March, it said.

Discretionary funds under management rose 9.4 percent to 31.5 billion pounds, helped by record net inflows of 1.1 billion pounds.

Funds directed to the firm from intermediaries such as independent financial advisers also climbed, with net inflows of 900 million pounds, it said, helped by changes to rules on pensions and compliance.

Total income rose to 147.4 million pounds from 137.2 million a year earlier, with pretax profit up 32.1 percent to 28.4 million pounds underpinning a 10.4 percent increase in its interim dividend to 4.25 pence a share.

"The fruits of several years of restructuring are now becoming more evident and we expect to be upgrading our last published fair value of 320 pence," Shore Capital analyst Paul McGinnis said in a note to clients, flagging a 'buy' rating.

($1 = 0.7732 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Carolyn Cohn and Jason Neely)