* Q3 sales rise 6.5 percent to 226 million euros
* Q3 issue volume rises 13.7 percent
* Raises 2010 EBIT goal to 310-330 million euros
* CEO says Q4 to show similar trends as Q3
(adds CEO comments from call, details)
By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - French vouchers group Edenred nudged up its 2010 profit goal after sales growth accelerated in the third quarter, driven by strong demand in Latin America, notably Brazil.
Edenred -- which offers prepaid services such as meal vouchers as well as payment, insurance and travel cards for employees -- split from hotels group Accor on July 2 in the largest listing of a French company on Euronext in two years..
The company competes with catering services groups Sodexo and Compass Group as well as card companies Mastercard and Visa.
It said on Tuesday the quarter just ended saw the first signs of a stabilising jobless rate in western Europe but added that the economic climate remained challenging in eastern Europe, notably Romania.
Chief Executive Jacques Stern told a conference call he expected the trends seen in the third quarter, when sales rose 7.3 percent like-for-like to 226 million euros ($314.2 million), to continue in the final three months of the year.
"What we are saying is that we had a better trend in the third quarter which should be confirmed in the fourth quarter," Stern said.
The decline in financial revenue slowed to 11.6 percent like-for-like in the quarter from 25.3 percent in the first half, helped by higher interest rates and by rising employment in Brazil. Edenred now expects to limit the decline in financial revenue to 10 percent in the second half, compared with a previous forecast of a 10-20 percent fall.
Closely watched issue volume -- the face value of its vouchers and the amount put on its prepaid cards -- rose 13.7 percent like-for-like in the third quarter, which was an acceleration from 7.8 percent growth in the first half.
This was also in line with Edenred's goal of achieving annual organic growth of 6 to 14 percent in issue volume.
Edenred said it now aimed for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of between 310 million and 330 million euros versus its previous target of 300 million to 330 million euros.
French sovereign investment fund FSI, which had opposed the split as too risky amid volatile markets, sold its entire 6.8 percent stake in Edenred this month.
Edenred shares closed down 0.9 percent at 15.03 euros, giving it a market value of 3.4 billion euros. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Michael Shields)