Kenyan tobacco firm BAT says H1 pretax profit up 8 pct

NAIROBI, July 23 (Reuters) - British American Tobacco Kenya said on Thursday it posted an 8 percent rise in its first half pretax profit to 2.77 billion shillings ($27.53 million), helped by improved sales and a favourable exchange rate on export sales.

The company, a unit of London-listed British American Tobacco, said its gross turnover was up 3 percent to 17.35 billion shillings, while its earnings per share rose to 19.41 shillings from 17.93 shillings in the first half of 2014.

The company makes cigarettes for other firms, as well as its own-brand cigarettes. Most of its manufacturing contracts are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It held its interim dividend at 3.50 shillings per share compared with the same period last year, it said in a statement. ($1 = 100.6000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by George Obulutsa, editing by William Hardy)