STOCKHOLM, April 17 (Reuters) - Shares in Sweden's Autoliv, the world's largest producer of airbags and seatbelts, rose 9% on Friday as the company reported stronger than expected first-quarter results.

o Adjusted operating profit eased to $245 million from a year-earlier $255 million, against a mean forecast of $209 million in a poll of analysts provided by Autoliv, with an adjusted operating margin of 8.9%.

o Autoliv had warned in January that it expected its first quarter adjusted operating margin to be considerably weaker than the first quarter of last year, but said on Friday that the operational performance exceeded its expectations.

o "The first quarter turned out better than we had anticipated, with strong sales in March. Our operational performance exceeded our expectations, with solid productivity improvements, partly supported by reduced call-off volatility," CEO Mikael Bratt said in the report.

o The company reiterated its full-year guidance of an adjusted operating margin of between 10.5 and 11%

(Reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm, Alexander Klyve Gudbrandsen in Gdansk, editing by Terje Solsvik)