News: BEN UPDATE 1-Australia's Bendigo and Adelaide Bank H1 profit down over 2 pct

(Adds details on financial results)

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Australian mid-sized lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (BEN) said on Monday its first-half cash earnings fell over 2 percent, hurt by a dent in margins because of higher funding costs in both term deposits and wholesale markets.

Cash earnings - which exclude one-off gains or losses - for the six months ended Dec. 31 fell to A$219.8 million ($155.8 million) from A$225.3 million a year ago.

The bank declared an interim dividend of 35 Australian cents per share, the same as the previous corresponding period.

Half-year net interest margin (NIM) before revenue share arrangements, a key gauge of profitability that measures the difference between interest costs and interest earned, contracted 1 basis point to 2.35 percent.

Bendigo attributed the drop in NIM to higher funding costs rising out of increased bank bill swap rates.

On a statutory basis, net profit fell more than 12 percent to A$203.2 million. ($1 = 1.4104 Australian dollars)