BERLIN, August 14, 2008 (AFP) - German utilities group RWE said on Thursday that net profit in the first half of the year had fallen by half owing to a writedown of its stake in American Water.

Net profit fell by 56 percent to 1.2 billion euros (1.7 billion dollars) due to the writedown and other one-off items, the company said in a statement. Without these, net profit fell by 4.4 percent to 2.1 billion euros.

RWE, Germany's second-biggest utility after EON, sold a 40-percent stake in American Water earlier this year by selling shares on the stock market but weaker than expected demand forced the firm to reduce the price per share.

First half revenue meanwhile rose 13 percent to 24.7 billion euros and operating income fell eight percent to 3.9 billion euro due to lower energy trading profits, RWE said.