May 20 (Reuters) - Polish retailer Modivo MDVP.WA reported a 6% rise in its first-quarter adjusted core profit on Wednesday, as strong growth in its off-price chain HalfPrice offset rising selling and administrative costs tied to rapid store expansion.

The group, which rebranded from CCC to Modivo in February, is shifting focus from its less profitable e-commerce operations to aggressively expand physical HalfPrice stores.

• First-quarter core profit, adjusted for one-offs and non-core income and expenses, was 296 million zlotys ($81 million), against 278 million zlotys a year ago

• The HalfPrice brand, which grew its retail space by 54% year-on-year, reported adjusted core profit growth of 31%

• The group's overall retail space grew 40% from a year ago; this expansion drove selling and administrative costs up 19% to 1.22 billion zlotys

• Adjusted core profit at the Modivo e-commerce platform rose 9% as the unit cut marketing spend to focus on cost efficiency

• Modivo's footwear chain CCC posted a 3% drop in its adjusted core profit

• Unadjusted core profit fell 39% from last year to 230 million zlotys

• The unadjusted figure included a 49-million-zloty drag from integrating the newly acquired Worldbox brand's results

($1 = 3.6666 zlotys)