UPDATE 1-ThaiBev profit slips on lower contributions from associated firms, food business

(Updates throughout with further details and background)

May 13 (Reuters) - Thai Beverage, chaired by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, posted a drop in first-half profit on Monday, hurt by the food division and lower contributions from associated companies.

The Singapore-listed drinks maker has been looking to aggressively expand its food business in the recent past, and established two units to improve investment in the food sector.

It also opened new food stores during the six months, helping push sales revenue from the segment but also increased its pre-operating expenses.

Associated companies, including Singapore-based developer Frasers Property, generated lower earnings for the drinks maker.

Frasers had reported a plunge in first-half profit on Friday as the property firm continued to face challenges from a struggling real-estate market.

ThaiBev recorded first-half profit attributable of 15.22 billion baht ($413.70 million), compared with 16.12 billion baht a year earlier.

All the associated companies together contributed to attributable profit of 842 million baht, compared with 2.04 billion baht a year earlier.

Attributable profit from the food business dropped around 62% for the six months, down to 29 million baht from 76 million baht reported a year earlier.

Its top earnings contributor, the spirits division, recorded a slight drop in profits for the half year as the firm's efforts to mitigate costs coupled with price adjustments for various products failed to offset an increase in finance-related expenses.

The company, however, controlled costs at its beer business where a decrease in raw material and packaging costs along with improved production efficiency helped boost profits.

ThaiBev declared an interim dividend of 0.15 baht apiece, in line with 0.15 baht declared a year ago. ($1 = 36.7700 baht) (Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava and Sneha Kumar; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)