DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) - Dubai's Drake & Scull DSI.DU (DSI) posted a 61 percent fall in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, extending an earnings slump as its revenue declined.

The contractor made a net profit attributable to shareholders of 9.8 million dirhams ($2.67 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement. This compares with a profit of 25.1 million dirhams in the year-earlier period.

EFG Hermes forecast DSI would make a quarterly net profit of 20.1 million dirhams. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N17K0G8

DSI had reported worsening earnings in seven of the preceding eight quarters, a slump it blamed on a slowdown in the Gulf construction sector. This included a substantial loss in the third quarter of 2015 due to provisioning. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N13A01W

DSI's first-quarter revenue was 1.03 billion dirhams, down 7.2 percent from 1.11 billion dirhams a year earlier.

Costs shrank by a smaller margin, falling 5.1 percent to 956.1 million dirhams.

($1 = 3.6729 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Ed Davies) ((matt.smith1@thomsonreuters.com; 00971506354039; Reuters Messaging: matt.smith1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: DRAKEANDSCULL RESULTS/Q1