MILAN, May 9 (Reuters) - Italian payments group Nexi on Thursday posted a bigger than forecast rise in core profit for the first quarter, and confirmed its guidance for the full year.

Nexi said it had repaid 220 million euros ($236.32 million)in debt in April and would use its existing cash to reimburse 1.3 billion euros in debt coming due between this year and the next.

In the three months to March 31, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled 361.7 million euros, up 8.6% year-on-year and above a 355-million-euro average forecast in an analysts' consensus provided by the company.

($1 = 0.9309 euros) (Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini)