Strong pound hits John Menzies' first-half profit

Aug 19 (Reuters) - John Menzies Plc (LSE: MNZS.L - news) reported a 9 percent fall in first-half profit as a strong pound cut earnings at its aviation services unit that earns largely in other currencies.

Underlying pretax profit dropped to 20.7 million pounds ($34.6 million) in the six months ended June 30 from 22.8 million pounds a year earlier.

At constant currency, turnover rose 2.7 percent to 1.03 billion pounds, said John Menzies, whose interests are split between lucrative aviation services and a struggling distribution business. ($1 = 0.5980 British Pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)