MILAN, May 12 (Reuters) - Italy's Bulgari (BULG.MI) posted improved sales in its own stores in April after a first-quarter net loss, hurt by the financial crisis sapping demand for luxury jewellery, watches and perfumes.

The Rome-based jeweller, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, said the financial crisis hurt first-quarter results and that it was carrying out "effective actions" regarding costs and investments.

"In April the Group has registered a clear sign of improvement in the sales of the directly owned stores, although an important contribution came from the high jewellery segment," Chief Executive Francesco Trapani said in a statement.

"To a lesser extent, an improvement has been registered also in the third party distribution."

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Trapani said own stores saw a "mid to high-single digit rise" in April sales.

Bulgari said it had a first-quarter net loss of 29.3 million euros ($39.94 million), compared with a net profit of 22.8 million euros a year ago.

Revenues fell 23.1 percent to 178.1 million euros. Bulgari said the sales performance in own stores was significantly better than the one registered in the wholesale channel -- where vendors carried out aggressive de-stocking in the first three months of the year.

Shares closed down 2.35 percent at 4.15 euros before the statement came out.

(Editing by David Cowell)