MEXICO: Mexico's Cemex posts loss, but sales rise

* Loss narrows but is wider than analysts' forecast

* Sales beat expectations, rise 11 percent (Recasts with market forecast, sales details, quote)

(Reuters) - Mexico's Cemex (CMXCPO.MX) (CX.N), the world's No. 3 cement maker, reported a wider-than expected first-quarter loss, but sales rose as demand improved in Mexico, Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

Net sales rose 11 percent to $3.4 billion, a sign that Cemex, one of Latin America's biggest companies, is pulling out of the worst crisis in its century-long history. The company has yet to fully recover from the U.S. housing crisis.

"This is the seventh consecutive quarter of top-line recovery in our results," said Fernando a Gonzalez, Cemex's executive vice president of finance and administration, who recently took on the role of chief financial officer.

Cemex posted a net loss of $276 million, down from a year-earlier loss of $342 million. Six analysts polled by Reuters forecast, on average, a loss of $229 million.

Earnings before interest, taxes, debt and amortization, or EBITDA, rose 1 percent to $519 million.

Weak cash flow underscored Cemex's challenges as the U.S. market, where the company is the top cement maker, remains feeble. In the first quarter, free cash flow after maintenance capital spending was negative $317 million, compared with a negative $171 million in the same quarter of 2010.

Monterrey-based Cemex, once an emerging market darling famed for buying up rivals in developed economies, has been struggling through a deep slump ever since it bought Australia's Rinker with short-term bank debt just before the U.S. housing crisis.