	lucas sees continued growth in second half lucas industries plc lucs l said its underlying performance would continue to improve in the second half but profits would be restrained by low activity in u k commercial vehicle and tractor markets as well as in north american electronics the company earlier reported a two mln stg rise in pretax profit to mln in the six months to end january the figure was some five mln below forecasts and lucas shares dropped sharply to p at gmt from last night s close of p it said it would continue with plans for all its activities to be internationally competitive and profitable costs of restructuring reorganisation employee training and retraining particularly in the uk automotive businesses together with high research and development spending would affect profits in the short term but lucas said it was exploiting growth opportunities in automotive markets especially in vehicle breaking and engine management systems recent acquisitions in north america had strengthened lucas aerospace and lucas industrial systems reuter 
