UPDATE 1-Canada's Churchill Q3 net rises 36 percent

* Q3 EPS C$0.85 vs. C$0.63 last year

* Contract revenue down 25 pct

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Canadian construction company Churchill Corp (CUQ.TO) reported a 36 percent rise in quarterly net profit, helped by a gain from an asset sale.

In August the company completed the sale of its industrial general contracting segment and recorded a gain of C$4.2 million.

Churchill posted net earnings of C$15.2 million, or 85 Canadian cents a share, for the third quarter, compared with C$11.2 million, or 63 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.

Earnings from continuing operations were C$11.7 million, or 65 Canadian cents a share, compared with C$11.9 million, or 67 Canadian cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 49 Canadian cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Contract revenue fell 25 percent to C$161.5 million due to delays in project starts.

The company ended the quarter with a backlog of C$1.52 billion, up from C$1.42 billion a year earlier.

Its shares closed at C$17.20 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by R. Manikandan in Bangalore; Editing by Mike Miller)