PARIS, July 24 (Reuters) - French car parts and garbage bins maker Plastic Omnium reported flat first-half sales on Thursday as the impact of a weaker dollar on U.S. operations ate into stronger sales from Europe, particularly outside France.
The maker of plastic car parts and wheelie bins used to collect urban garbage posted first-half sales up 0.6 percent at 857.1 million euros ($984.8 million), but said this would have been a rise of 8.8 percent at constant currency rates.
Plastic Omnium shares, which have risen 25 percent this year, were flat by 1009 GMT at 29 euros. European revenues outside France, which make up a third of Plastic Omnium's activity, rose 18.8 percent to 299.9 million euros.
But North American revenues fell 20.5 percent to 238 million euros, mostly due to the cost of repatriating revenues denominated in the recently sliding dollar.
Reporting its sales on a day when Europe's second largest carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen posted a slide in first half profits and warned of a three to four percent decline in Europe's car market this year, Plastic Omnium posted almost flat sales from its auto division at 685.7 million euros, up 0.1 percent.
The company said it had gained market share in Europe and North America by introducing new products.
It said full results, to be published on September 16, would confirm an improvement in the company's fundamentals.
In March, Plastic Omnium said it had doubled its net profit in 2002 as it reduced debt repayment charges and boosted operating profit by 43 percent.