Voestalpine Q1 EBIT 357.7 mln euros, beats forecast

VIENNA Aug 27 (Reuters) - Austrian steelmaker voestalpine (VOES.VI) reported on Wednesday better than expected first-quarter operating profit and said it expected to match the previous year's earnings in its full financial year.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 13.8 percent to 357.7 million euros ($526.2 million) in the three months to end-June amid high demand from key customer sectors, voestalpine said in a statement. The average forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll was 333 million euros. Sales rose 68.5 percent to 3.25 billion euros compared to analysts expectations of 3.05 million euros.

"The outlook is good that the previous year's earnings will be matched, despite some degree of uncertainty with regard to the overall economic development in the last quarter of the financial year," the company said. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker)