Coca-Cola HBC sales up as Russia rebounds

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Soft drink bottler Coca-Cola HBC reported higher first-quarter revenue and sales volume on Thursday, helped by improving trends in Russia and other markets.

The company, which bottles and sells Coca-Cola drinks in 28 countries, said sales revenue rose 4.5 percent to 1.38 billion euros in the quarter, despite a late Easter pushing some sales into the second quarter.

The company only saw a 0.7 percent increase in the amount of drinks sold, but its revenue per case, excluding currency fluctuations, rose 4.5 percent.

Volume fell 3.6 percent in developing markets, but rose 4 percent in emerging markets, with Russia growing for the first time in eight quarters.

The company had forecast that better economic conditions would support volume growth in 2017.

Chief Executive Dimitris Lois said in Thursday's statement that the company's "commercial initiatives continue to deliver good results and add to our confidence going into the remainder of the year."

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Jason Neely)