Fenner, which makes conveyor belts for industries such as coal and iron ore mining, said it expected demand for its machinery to pick up in newer markets, offsetting slow demand from customers in Russia, Ukraine and the UK.

Pretax profit for the six months ended February 28 fell to 17.6 million pounds from 26.1 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue declined 8 percent to 356 million pounds.

(Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)