Aug 22 (Reuters) - British car dealership Lookers Plc , a takeover target for Global Auto Holdings, said on Tuesday the group witnessed resilient first-half trading despite macroeconomic challenges.

Lookers, which sells new and used cars and vans and also offers after-sales services, had agreed last month to a sweetened buyout offer of 504.2 million pounds ($645 million) by Global Auto, the entity related to privately owned Canadian car dealer network Alpha Auto Group, pending shareholder approval.

Lookers said its half-yearly revenue grew 8% to 2.42 billion pounds in the six-month period ended June 30, while underlying pre-tax profit slipped 2.3% to 46.1 million pounds.

Sale of new vehicles represented 41% of total revenue during the reported period, while like-for-like total car unit sales volume jumped 8.5%, the group said.

($1 = 0.7817 pounds)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)