By Tristan Veyet and Bartosz Dabrowski

(Reuters) – Swiss fragrance and flavour maker Givaudan on Thursday reported quarterly like-for-like sales slightly above expectations, with price rises helping to offset lower sales volumes in North America.

Its first-quarter revenue rose 3.6% to 1.84 billion Swiss francs ($1.97 billion) on a like-for-like basis, beating the 1.80 billion francs expected by analysts in a poll compiled by the company.

The sales growth was below Givaudan’s mid-term target of between 4% and 5% on average, which it also reiterated.

On a reported basis, sales fell 0.4% to 1.77 billion Swiss francs.

Givaudan reported a 9.5% drop in like-for-like sales in North America, the only region to record a decline in the quarter.

“Overall, we believe the results mark a bottoming in volume deterioration seen since Q422 led by de-stocking, meanwhile pricing actions continue to be implemented to mitigate input cost inflation,” J.P. Morgan analyst Celine Pannuti said in a note, adding that there is scope for a better volume set-up in the second half of 2023.

Givaudan shares were up 0.6% in Julius Baer pre-market indications as of 0635 GMT.

($1 = 0.8966 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Bartosz Dabrowski, additional reporting by Jagoda Darlak; Editing by Milla Nissi)