Wal-Mart de Mexico Profit Rises 23% in Fourth Quarter

By Anthony Harrup 

MEXICO CITY -- Net profit at Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB rose 23% in the fourth quarter on higher sales and cost control efforts.

Mexico's biggest retailer, which also runs stores in Central America, on Wednesday reported net profit for the October-December quarter of 10.4 billion Mexican pesos ($514 million), compared with 8.5 billion pesos a year earlier.

Revenue increased 12% to 157.5 billion pesos and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, a measure of operating cash flow, climbed 21% to 15.5 billion pesos from the fourth quarter of 2015.

The quarter closed a solid year for Walmex, as the unit of Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is known. Full-year sales grew 12% from 2015, thanks to strong household consumption in Mexico, where employment and wage growth were coupled with low inflation, and to gains in Central American currencies against the Mexican peso.

The results were roughly in line with the median estimates of analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal, which called for net profit of 10 billion pesos on sales of 157.5 billion pesos and Ebitda of 15.8 billion pesos.

Walmex shares traded on the Mexican stock exchange slipped 0.1% before the release of the earnings.

Write to Anthony Harrup at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2017 17:10 ET (22:10 GMT)

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