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Reckitt Benckiser reports sales gain, stands by full-year goal

Products made by Reckitt Benckiser stand on a shelf in a store in Brighton southern England, July 21, 2010. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Reckitt Benckiser Group reported higher quarterly sales on Friday, helped by growth across all regions, and stood by its full-year target.

The results beat some analysts' expectations, and provided more evidence that the consumer goods sector is moving past some of the troubles it saw in 2014 when a slowdown in emerging markets crimped demand for everything from soup to soap.

The maker of Durex condoms, Mucinex cold medicine and other goods said sales rose 1 percent to 2.22 billion pounds in the first quarter.

Sales rose 5 percent on a like-for-like basis, which excludes the impact of currency, acquisitions, disposals and discontinued operations. Analysts on average had been expecting growth of 3.9 percent, according to analysts at Bernstein.

Like-for-like sales rose 3 percent in North America, helped by a strong flu season. Sales rose 6 percent in developing markets, helped by improvements in India, partially offset by weakness in Brazil.

Reckitt said it was on track to meet its full-year goals for 4 percent like-for-like sales growth and "moderate to nice" operating margin expansion.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)