FRANKFURT Aug 10 (Reuters) - Pressure on gas margins and a loss from energy trading added to profit woes at Germany's E.ON, whose first-half profit slump reported on Wednesday was mainly attributed to Germany's nuclear exit. As the German gas market leader, E.ON's activities are an indicator of the health of central European gas markets. Its Global Gas division sold 394 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in the first half, down five percent from a year earlier. E.ON's German unit, which accounted for 55 percent of group gas revenue, reported a 22 billion kWh fall in sales due to "customer losses and weather related influences." Industry figures showed that German natural gas usage in the first six months dropped 8.6 percent year on year due to a mild winter. The E.ON gas unit's adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was down 61 percent at 578 million euros and was forecast at between 800 million and 1.3 billion euros in the full year, according to the report. This came amid a 45 percent E.ON group EBITDA slump. At the heart of the gas profit squeeze, apart from competition and lower sales, are high global oil prices to which gas is index-linked and weak spot gas prices in central Europe, where E.ON customers reference prices to local hubs. E.ON has been locked in battle with Gazprom , which supplies over a quarter of its gas, and other suppliers to redraw long-term contracts binding it to high purchasing prices.

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