Brambles said that the effect of high fuel prices on the company had not been as great as expected and new contract wins would be significant contributors to growth in the new financial year.

Shares in Brambles jumped 67 cents, or 8.96 per cent, to $8.15 on Tuesday.

"There has been a great deal of comment on fuel recently and how that might impact Brambles," Brambles chief executive Mike Ihlein said in a trading update.

"Importantly, we have a number of opportunities to mitigate such cost increases and hence the impact is far less than has been suggested by some commentators.

"In the 11 months to the end of May, CHEP's transportation costs as a percentage of revenue were broadly in line with the corresponding period."

CHEP is Brambles' pallet business. Brambles also operates a document management business called Recall.

Mr Ihlein said Brambles was making extensive use of online auctions of its transport requirements, which was helping the company better manage fuel costs.

Brambles was also recovering fuel costs through contractual arrangements with customers, including fuel surcharges in the United States and indexation increases in Europe.

Brambles said sales rose 13 per cent for the 11 months ended May despite a challenging economic environment in many markets.

Sales lifted six per cent in constant currency terms.

The company signed 2,400 new contracts in the US and Europe in the period, equivalent to $US180 million ($A189.25 million) in annualised sales.

Cashflow continued to be strong, notwithstanding significant investment for growth in the US, Europe, China, India and Australia.

The company's balance sheet was in "very good shape", with $US4 billion in credit facilities, of which $US1.4 billion was unused.

No major refinancing was required before 2010.

"Overall, Brambles's underlying profit growth for the full year 2008 - that is before the non-recurring $13 million profit on the sale of the Madrid property in 2007 - is expected to remain solid, reflecting the strength of our business models," Mr Ihlein said.

Growth in new business had been a highlight for the 11 months.

"We have won some very significant new business that will contribute strongly to volume across many parts of our business in 2009," Mr Ihlein said.

"The sales pipeline across both CHEP and Recall is very healthy, and I think it is the best we have seen for some years across all parts of our business."

Brambles said CHEP continued to expand in the US, where sales grew 10 per cent, or eight per cent on a constant currency basis.

Major inroads had been made into food service in the US.

The division extended its business with Tyson Foods, the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, with Tyson set to become one of CHEP USA's biggest customers.

Brambles signed a deal to expand business with SYSCO, North America's leading marketer and distributor in food service.

CHEP's European sales increased by 12 per cent, or two per cent on a constant currency basis, with strong underlying profit growth.

Sales for CHEP in the rest of the world jumped 18 per cent, or seven per cent constant currency, as the company expanded in China and India.

Recall increased sales by 16 per cent, or seven per cent in constant currency terms, as new customers were brought on board.

Brambles said it was confident that CHEP and Wal-Mart, the world's biggest supermarket chain, would shortly reach an agreement with a positive outcome, after Wal-Mart decided to review its pallet arrangements.

Brambles would make an announcement as soon as talks finished