* Oerlikon posts H1 net loss, narrower than year earlier
* Oerlikon CEO sees return to profit in 2011
* Shares rise 6 percent, outperform market
ZURICH, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Loss-making Swiss technology group Oerlikon said it would return to profit next year, sending shares higher.
The company, in which Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg holds a major stake, posted a first-half net loss of 50 million Swiss francs, compared with a loss of 99 million a year earlier.
The results were the company's first under new chief executive Michael Buscher, who is overhauling the company's business.
"In the second half of the year we will be profitable before restructuring costs and next year also at a group level," Buscher told Reuters.
At 0754 GMT shares in the company, which have lost more than half their value in the past year, were up 6 percent at 4.41 francs, outperforming a 0.5 percent rise in the Swiss midcap index.
Oerlikon, which makes the coatings used in Formula One racing cars and machines used to make solar cells, carried out a 1 billion franc rights issue earlier this year as part of a debt restructuring scheme.
"We welcome the clear strategic message regarding the group's business portfolio and segment structure, as well as the focus on profitability rather than growth," said Vontobel analyst Michael Foeth.
The company, founded more than 100 years ago, had to renegotiate a 2.5 billion franc syndicated loan it took to refinance the purchase of car parts and machinery maker Saurer in 2006 and also suffered a sharp drop in orders during the global recession. (Reporting by Oliver Hirt, writing by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)