LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - British chemicals maker Elementis Plc (ELM.L) swung to a first half pretax loss on Monday 3 August, largely due to exceptional costs, but said trading for the rest of the year was in line.

The company posted pretax losses of 30.2 million pounds ($50.6 million), compared with profit of 26.8 million last time, mostly due to a one-time charge for for the closure of the Eaglescliffe UK chromium facility and the cost of cancelling excess currency hedging contracts.

Stripping out the exceptional costs of 32.4 million pounds, Elementis posted pretax profit of 2.2 million pounds.

The firm, which makes chemicals to enhance the texture of paints and cosmetics, said sales were 28 percent lower than the previous year at 172.2 million pounds.

Chairman Robert Beeston said in a statement the firm was reducing costs to offset the effects of lower customer demand and added trading had improved during the latter part of the first half.

"While there remains a degree of uncertainty in the current economic environment, trading nevertheless remains in line with the Board's expectations," the group said.

An interim dividend of 1.5 pence will be maintained. (Reporting by Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Victoria Bryan) ($1=.5972 Pound)