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PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - Europe's largest tyre maker Michelin posted a 4.9 percent fall in first-quarter sales on Wednesday as a weak dollar took its toll on export revenues.
The French firm said sales in the first quarter dipped to 3.655 billion euros from 3.842 billion previously, but climbed 5.7 percent stripping out the effect of exchange rates.
A weaker U.S. dollar, down an average 18 percent against the euro since the first quarter of 2002, and Latin American currencies had a negative impact of 10 percent, Michelin said in a statement.
Michelin, also famed for its upscale restaurant and tourism guides, said an uncertain tyre market and a fragile global economy meant it could not give firm forecasts for the whole year.
"The group continues to anticipate that markets will remain at best stable, if not slightly down," the firm said in a statement.
Michelin stock, which has underperformed the European DJ Stoxx Autos index by 2.3 percent so far this year, closed up 5.67 percent at 32.23 euros on Wednesday.
The firm said in a statement that an increase in the volume of sales had a positive impact on revenues worth 4.3 percent. This was thanks to renewed demand from tyre dealers, who were rebuilding stocks, rather than due to a jump in demand for replacement tyres, it said.
Sales of tyres for cars and light trucks slid 7.4 percent percent, while heavy truck tyre sales edged 0.9 percent lower.
In North America sales of passenger car and light truck tyres slipped 1.5 percent in volume, with the replacement tyre market particularly hard hit, while in Europe volume of sales slipped 0.7 percent, mainly due to weaker demand from carmakers.
The company said its recent acquisition of Denmark's Viborg was effective from March 31, 2003, so had not been included in the first quarter figures.
Michelin pleased investors in 2002 by almost doubling net profit and posting a forecast-beating 18 percent rise in operating profit thanks to price increases and cost cuts.
This came despite slightly lower sales, down 0.8 percent as weak U.S. and Latin American currencies hit, although sales by volume motored higher, as they did at the start of this year.
Chairman Edouard Michelin, who is striving to turn what was once a staid family firm into the world's top tyremaker, declined to give firm forecasts for 2003 but said the firm aimed to improve performance at all levels. He forecast stable tyre markets with a risk of waning demand.