Jardine Lloyd Thompson profit up

LONDON (Reuters) - Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT.L) reported a better-than-expected 4 percent increase in half-year profit and said it was set for further growth despite a challenging economic environment.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson said underlying pretax profit for the six months to June 30 was 53.4 million pounds, up from 51.1 million pounds in the same period last year.

Analysts had expected a profit of 50.35 million pounds, according to the average of four forecasts given to Reuters Estimates.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by Paul Bolding)