April 27 - French luxury products giant PPR reported Wednesday a nine percent increase in first quarter sales, with the company expressing confidence that it will beat last year's performance.

Yves Saint Laurent (PPR Group)

PPR, which owns such names as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, sportswear label Puma and French entertainment retailer Fnac said sales rose to 3.7 billion euros ($5.4 billion), for 6.5 percent growth on a comparable basis from the first quarter of 2010.

The figures beat the 6.5 percent growth to 3.62 billion euros expected by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

"Strong sales growth was driven by an excellent showing from our Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle businesses, which altogether delivered double-digit growth in all geographic areas apart from Japan," chief executive Francois-Henri Pinault said in a statement.

Japan's earthquake and tsunami last month brought an end to growth in PPR's sales in that country.

PPR's luxury brands saw 26.2 percent growth in sales with Puma recording 13.2 percent growth. Overall their increase was 20.6 percent.

Strong sales in emerging countries means they now account for a fifth of PPR's business.

"I am therefore confident that in 2011 PPR will be able to maintain its revenue growth momentum and surpass its 2010 financial performance, building on the strength of its business model and the pertinence of its strategy," added Pinault.

The company earned 965 million euros in net profits last year on sales of 14.6 billion.