* Interested in opening facilities on Iran's Caspian Sea
-chairman
* Talking to Iran officials, met before July sanctions deal
* H1 net profit up 21.9 pct after EZW acquisition
* Will meet FY targets despite China, other headwinds
(Recasts with Iran, outlook, call details)
By Nadia Saleem
DUBAI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - DP World DPW.DI may launch
operations in Iran, the company's chairman said on Thursday, as
the global ports operator reported a jump in half-year earnings
after buying assets from its parent company.
Customer demand will dictate what it will spend on
developing port facilities on the Caspian Sea, which it is
currently exploring with Iranian authorities.
"Iran has a good land bridge of rail that will connect the
Silk Route from China to Europe," Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin
Sulayem said on an earnings call with reporters.
"With our ports in the Gulf, we need to go into Iran," he
said, without giving a timeframe for the investment.
He said DP World officials visited Iran ahead of Tehran's
nuclear deal with world powers in July that could see trade
sanctions lifted.
DP reported a 21.9 percent jump in first-half net profit to
$405 million.
The acquisition of logistics infrastructure firm Economic
Zones World (EZW) boosted revenue, which rose 14.2 percent
helped also by new capacity in Netherlands and India.
DP World said in November it would pay $2.6 billion for EZW,
at that point owned by Dubai World DBWLD.UL , which owns 80.45
percent of DP World.
DP spent $3.5 billion on acquisitions and expansionary capex
in the first half. That included the purchase of Canada's
Fairview Container Terminal, which was completed in August.
ID:nL6N0T309R
"This investment leaves us well placed to capitalise on the
significant medium- to long-term growth potential of this
industry," Sulayem said.
He said the firm was still on track to meet its year-end
targets, although it was too early to estimate the full impact
on container demand from the economic turbulence in China.
Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf was quoted as saying in the
earnings statement that he expected growth rates to moderate in
the second half.
The Dubai-based firm is set to increase its capacity by the
end of the year to about 85 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent
units), as new terminals at UAE's Jebel Ali and Turkey's Yarimca
add 2.8 million TEU.
(Editing by David French and Jason Neely)