* Q1 net loss 4.3 mln euros, vs forecast loss 8.5 mln eur
* Revenues 1.202 bln euros, up 3.9 percent
* CEO confident of achieving 2011 targets
* Shares up 2.1 percent, outperform Milan index
(Adds company comment, detail, background, shares)
MILAN, May 10 (Reuters) - Italy's Autogrill, the world's biggest airport retailer, stuck to its 2011 guidance in the face of rising oil prices which took a toll on first-quarter core earnings.
The Italian group, which manages motorway and airport restaurants from Canada to New Zealand, said on Tuesday core earnings slowed 8.1 percent to 85.9 million euros ($122.7 million) in the first quarter, partly due to increasing oil and raw material prices and higher marketing and labour costs.
"The positive trend in airport traffic, above all in the United States, and the measures taken by the group enable us to be confident of achieving our full-year objectives", Chief Executive Gianmario Tondato Da Ruos said in the results' statement.
The group posted a first-quarter net loss of 4.3 million euros, better than a mean forecast for a loss of 8.5 million euros by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and down from a 9.1 million euros loss a year ago.
Autogrill shares were up 2.10 percent to 9.86 euros at 1021 GMT, outperforming Milan's all-share index.
The company, which manages more than 5,300 points of sale in 39 countries, said in March it expected continued high oil prices and weak economic growth to almost wipe out earnings growth this year.
Autogrill, which sold its air catering unit last autumn, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were likely to be between 610 million and 640 million euros this year.
First-quarter revenues were 3.9 percent higher, or up 2 percent at constant currencies, to 1.202 billion euros, helped by recovery in airport traffic. Sales in the first 17 weeks of the year were up 4.5 percent at constant rates.
The group forecasts revenues this year of 5.8-5.9 billion euros.
(Reporting by Antonella Ciancio. Editing by Jane Merriman)