Drax falls to first-half loss after forex hit

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - British power producer Drax reported a half-year pretax loss on Wednesday after a one-off hit on foreign exchange hedging.

Drax, which raised its dividend payments last month, reported a loss of 83 million pounds ($108 million) versus a 184 million pound profit a year earlier.

It took a 65 million pound hit on unfavourable currency movements and said its coal-fired power assets were depreciating in value more quickly than expected.

Despite the loss, Drax said its full-year performance remained on track.

($1 = 0.7666 pounds) (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Jason Neely)