French food group Danone reported an 18.7 per cent rise in first quarter sales today and said it was on course to meet its 2008 targets for sales and earnings growth.
The maker of Actimel yoghurt and Evian bottled water said sales rose to €3.76 billion ($5.95 billion).
The company had strong sales growth at its baby nutritional products division, boosted by Danone's takeover of Dutch babyfood maker Numico last year.
Like-for-like sales growth, excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, during the first quarter stood at 11.4 per cent.
Danone reiterated its 2008 target for sales growth of between 8 and 10 per cent and for underlying earnings per share growth of at least 15 per cent.
"Based on the group's overall performance in the first three months of the year, we are confident of achieving our targets for 2008 both in terms of growth as well as profitability," Danone Chairman and Chief Executive Franck Riboud said in a
statement.
Despite the sales rise, Danone shares fell in line with a broader stock market decline, although analysts welcomed the company's figures.
Danone was down 1.1 per cent at €54.74 in early morning trade, giving the company a stock market value of around €28 billion. France's benchmark CAC-40 index was down 0.6 per cent.
Danone is one of world's top ten food groups and is the biggest in the world in dairy products and bottled water.
In February, Danone raised its financial targets for 2008 and beyond after announcing that its 2007 net profit had tripled thanks to a 3.1 billion euro capital gain on the sale of its biscuit business.