TORONTO -- Celestica Inc. (TSX:CLS) says it had US$47.1 million of adjusted net earnings in the first quarter, or US$37.3 million under standard accounting -- both up substantially from the same time last year despite soft demand for some of its manufacturing services.

The adjusted earnings amounted to 26 cents per share -- above the high end of Celestica's guidance and up from 16 cents per share in the first quarter of 2013.

Toronto-based Celestica, which provides global manufacturing services to companies in several industry sectors, said its adjusted earnings were assisted by a tax benefit worth six cents per share and, excluding that, would have been 20 cents per share -- in line with analyst estimates.

Celestica's revenue fell short of analyst expectations and were at the low end of the company's guidance, dropping four per cent to US$1.312 billion in the three months ended March 31 from US$1.372 billion a year earlier.

The company's president and chief executive officer, Craig Muhlhauser, attributed the soft revenue to volatile demand within its communications business -- which accounts for about 40 per cent of the company's total revenue.

"Despite the challenges, we delivered operating results in-line with our beginning-of-quarter expectations as a result of our focus on continuous improvement and disciplined cost management," Muhlhauser said in a statement, ahead of an analyst conference call and the company's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday.

"We are also pleased with our operating margin improvements compared to the first quarter of 2013. We expect to build on this momentum during the remainder of 2014 by continuing to focus on making our customers successful, and investing to achieve long-term growth and profitability for Celestica."

The company's guidance in January called for between US$1.30 billion and US$1.40 billion of revenue and adjusted earnings per share of between 17 and 23 cents US of adjusted earnings. Analysts had estimated nearly US$1.36 billion of revenue for the first quarter and 20 cents US per share of adjusted earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Celestica's guidance for the second quarter of this year calls for revenue to grow to between US$1.375 billion and $1.475 billion and for adjusted net earnings to be in a range of 20 cents to 26 cents US per share.