May 16 (Reuters) - Orica Ltd ORI.AX , the world's No. 1 explosives maker, on Tuesday reported a 2.7 percent rise in its half-year underlying profit on higher demand for ammonium nitrate.
Orica said underlying profit for the six months to March climbed to A$195.2 million ($144.72 million)from A$190 million a year ago.
That beat the A$182 million mean estimate of three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The industrial explosives supplier declared an interim dividend of 23.5 cents Australian per share, compared with 20.5 cents in the year-ago quarter.
The company last year ditched its policy of never cutting dividends and switched to a payout ratio of 40 to 70 percent of underlying earnings to support its balance sheet and avoid a credit downgrade. ($1 = 1.3488 Australian dollars)