Debenhams cuts dividend as first-half profit slumps

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - British department store group Debenhams (Frankfurt: D2T.F - news) on Thursday warned on the full-year outlook for the second time in four months and cut its dividend as it reported a 52 percent slump in first-half profit.

The retailer, which issued a profit warning in January, said it made an underlying pretax profit of 42.2 million pounds ($59.9 million) in the 26 weeks to March 3 - below analysts' average forecast of 44 million pounds and the 87.8 million pounds made in the first half of its 2016-17 year.

Debenhams cut its interim dividend by 51 percent to 0.5 pence.

It said that based on its current view of the second half of the financial year, full-year pretax profit was expected to be at the lower end of the current range of broker forecasts of 50-61 million pounds. It was previously guiding to 55-65 million pounds. ($1 = 0.7041 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle)