UPDATE 1-Vietnam FPT H1 gross profit up 25 pct-paper

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HANOI, July 17 (Reuters) - FPT FPT.HM, Vietnam's top technology services firm, earned 631 billion dong ($38 million) in first-half gross profit, up 24.6 percent from a year earlier, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.

FPT Corp, in which private equity firm Texas Pacific [TPG.UL], Intel Capital and Deutsche Bank all own stakes, posted second-quarter gross earnings of 328 billion dong, up from 303 billion dong in the first quarter.

First-half revenues for the Hanoi-based firm saw an annual growth of 47 percent, the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper said.

FPT has yet to publish its results via the stock exchange .VNI, where its shares ended 2.36 percent higher at 65,000 dong on Wednesday.

FPT's earning details -- released at a news conference on Wednesday that was closed to foreign media -- showed gross profit from services and software production alone surged 99 percent to 450.47 billion dong, the newspaper said.

FPT has subsidiaries dealing with retail sales, stockbroking and fund management, software production, mobile phone distribution and Internet services.

It also contributed funds, together with Vietnam National Reinsurance Corp VNR.HN and Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company, to set up Tien Phong Bank.

The bank, which started operations last month, has a capital base of 1 trillion dong.