Groupe Bel, the cheese maker behind brands including Babybel and The Laughing Cow, has booked a more than 6% rise in first-quarter sales.
The company posted turnover of EUR551m (US$693.6m) for the three months to the end of March, an increase of 6.3% on the year.
The rise equated to a 7.7% increase on an organic basis, as a weakening of the dollar and the Egyptian pound, plus the disposal of a business in the Czech Republic, weighed on reported sales.
“In Western Europe, a continuation of sales and marketing actions implemented in the second half of 2009 led to a recovery in sales volume growth,” Bel said.
“The International and Americas regions reported a very good start to the year with sales volumes still trending up sharply.”

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataBel added: “Sales volumes in Eastern Europe, however, continued to suffer from a severe contraction in consumer purchasing power in a still depressed economic environment, along with a decline in available dairy supply in some regions.”