* H1 adjusted EPS up 19.3 percent to 80.2 euro cents
* Sees year adjusted EPS rising at mid-teens percentage rate
* Encouraged by Asia-Pacific growth; Ireland stabilising
* Shares up as much as 3.4 percent to record high
(Adds CEO quote from analyst call, industry context)
By Andras Gergely
DUBLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Irish food maker Kerry Group raised its earnings growth forecast after strong overseas sales of products ranging from tapioca pearls in Asia to sausages in Britain helped offset a struggling Irish economy.
Kerry, Ireland's third-biggest listed company by market capitalisation, makes much of its money supplying ingredients and seasonings, allowing it to quickly refocus towards cheaper items such as fast food and ready meals in the recession.
"The consumer sentiment out there obviously is still very cautious given what has been going on around the world," Chief Executive Stan McCarthy told analysts. "I think you now have a new consumer that is quite pragmatic, looking for value."
Kerry's upbeat outlook lifted its shares as much as 3.4 percent to an all-time high of 25.44 euros and -- a rarity in the troubled Irish market -- above the 23 euros the stock fetched at the end of the 'Celtic Tiger' boom years in 2007.
Shares were up 2.1 percent by 0948 GMT at 25.12 euros.
"Even if it is what we have come to expect from Kerry, it is hard not to be impressed by its H1 performance," Davy analyst John O'Reilly said.
In contrast, the overall Irish market, which has fallen by three-quarters since 2007, was down 0.2 percent. Investors who punted 100 euros on the Irish financial sector in March 2007 would have lost 96 euros by now.
Citing "very satisfactory" performance in the key UK market, Kerry said its Richmond sausage brand achieved double-digit growth in the first half. It was battling intense competition in the children's snack market by launching new ball- and spaghetti-shaped versions of its Cheestrings product.
In Ireland, one of the euro zone's financial trouble spots, sales have been lagging behind other regions but now stabilising with a possibility of growth in the second half, Kerry said.
In Asia and emerging markets elsewhere it plans to expand both organically and through acquisitions, with offerings ranging from baby food ingredients to tapioca pearls used to form solid "bubbles" in a beverage called "bubble tea".
Kerry Group, whose first-half adjusted earnings per share rose 19.3 percent to 80.2 cents, said it expected full-year adjusted EPS to rise in the mid-teens in percentage terms, more than its earlier forecast for growth of up to 11 percent.
Rival Irish food maker Glanbia last week also upgraded its 2010 earnings outlook, coming on the heels of upbeat statements this month from Danish food ingredients maker Danisco and British sausage-skin maker Devro Plc. (Editing by David Cowell and Michael Shields)