UPDATE 1-Heinz profit beats Street on emerging market strength

Feb 21 (Reuters) - H.J. Heinz Co reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, helped by strength in emerging markets.

The ketchup maker, which plans to be acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, said net income was $269.5 million, or 83 cents per share, in the quarter, down from $284.7 million, or 88 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, earnings from continued operations were 99 cents per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting 90 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 2 percent to $2.93 billion. Pricing contributed 2 percentage points of growth with volume adding only 0.3 percentage point.

Sales jumped some 18 percent in emerging markets, which represented 23 percent of total company sales. Top markets included Latin America, Indonesia and China.