NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cintas Corp <CTAS.O>, which provides workplace uniforms, reported higher third-quarter profit on Wednesday, but it lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing tough economic conditions, and promised aggressive cost controls.

The Cincinnati-based company said net profit rose to $81.8 million, or 53 cents per share, from $76.7 million, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier, helped by new business and an improvement in medical costs.

Analysts, on average, expected profit of 54 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue for the quarter rose 7.8 percent to $976 million.

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However, Cintas said it now expects fiscal 2008 earnings of $2.12 to $2.16 per share, down from its prior forecast of $2.15 to $2.25 per share.

The company expects full-year revenue of $3.93 billion to $3.96 billion, down from its previous view of $3.9 billion to $4.1 billion.

"While our sales organization continues to perform as expected, the economic environment has become more demanding," Chief Executive Scott Farmer said in a statement.

"We anticipate this weakness to continue and are aggressively challenging our cost structure in order to maintain our margins during this difficult operating environment," he added.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Toni Reinhold)