French consultancy Sopra Q1 sales up 12.3 pct

PARIS, April 28 (Reuters) - French consultancy Sopra Group (SOPR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a 12.3 percent rise in first-quarter sales on Monday, and predicted a top-line growth at least as strong in the second quarter of 2008.

Sales rose to 268.7 million euros ($420.8 million) from 239.2 million euros in the first quarter of 2007, helped by double-digit growth in its core French systems and solutions business, Sopra said in a statement.

Quarterly sales rose 10.6 percent year on year on a like-for-like basis, the company said.

"On the basis of the elements known to this day, Sopra anticipates a growth at least equivalent in the second quarter and is confident in its capacity to sustain, in the current economic environment, an organic growth superior to that of the market over the whole of 2008," Sopra said.

Sopra shares closed 1.9 percent higher at 50.0 euros on Monday, giving the company a value of around 570 million euros. (Reporting by Marie Maitre; Editing by David Cowell)