MEXICO CITY Mexican bottler and retailer Femsa posted a 9% year-on-year fall in its third-quarter net profit on Friday, which it attributed to the strength of the Mexican peso and a decrease in income from discontinued operations.
Net income attributable to the owner came down to 9.74 billion pesos ($558.9 million) from 10.75 billion pesos a year earlier.
Femsa said profits were boosted by higher operational income, an exchange-rate bump and a decrease in net interest expenses. However, they were offset by the appreciation of the Mexican peso compared to the dollar and a drop in income from discontinued operations, which included Femsa's previous stake in Heineken.
Quarterly revenue rose 19% to 188.1 billion pesos ($10.79 billion) in the July-to-September period, nevertheless missing the LSEG consensus of 199.7 billion pesos.
Femsa's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), or core earnings, for the quarter rose 15% to 25.37 billion pesos.
Same-store sales in FEMSA's Oxxo stores across Latin America grew 15%.
($1 = 17.4279 Mexican pesos at end-September)
(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland)
