UPDATE 1-Belgium's D'Ieteren 2009 helped by cold weather

* 2009 sales, operating profit beat market expectations

* Sees high single digit growth in pretax profit for 2010

* Shares down 2 pct

(Adds details from statement, background)

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Belgium's D'Ieteren (IETB.BR) said its car sales and rental volumes could show modest recovery this year after wintery weather drove a boom in its windshield repair profits in 2009.

Overall pretax profit for 2009 rose 11.7 percent, with the contribution from car glass business Belron up by a third, offsetting weakness in its car distribution and Avis rental operations, D'Ieteren said.

The company said the Belgian new car market would be stable or improve slightly this year after shrinking in 2009, and rental volumes and prices could grow, though it said the trading environment remained uncertain and gave it limited visibilty.

It said it expected Belron to continue showing organic growth, helping take overall 2010 profit growth to a high single-digit percentage.

"All in all, strong results, but the market may have been expecting a slightly higher contribution from Belron," said Degroof in a note to clients.

The company's shares were down 2 percent in early trade at 343.01 euros.

It made 6.27 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in sales for 2009, down 3.6 percent, beating the 6.03 billion euros expected on average by four analysts polled by Reuters.

The company's current operating profit, up 2.6 percent to 384.7 million euros, beat market expectations of 350 million euros.

D'Ieteren, which has a majority stake in Avis Europe AVE.L and Belron, distributes the Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), Seat, Audi, Skoda, Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini brands.

On Thursday car rental company Avis Europe Plc AVE.L reported a 7.4 percent drop in full-year underlying pretax profit, hurt by lower rental income, but said it was comfortable with market expectations for 2010. [ID:nSGE6230AN] ($1=.7310 Euro) (By Ben Deighton, editing by Will Waterman)