The Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) consortium recorded a net profit of 18,583 million pesos (about 955 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2018, 59.3% less than in the same period last year.
In its financial report, the company attributed the result to “the sale of 5.24% of the combined interest in the Heineken Group during the third quarter of 2017, offset by the increase in operating income and lower financial expenses”.
Total revenues increased 5.1% compared to the same period of 2017, reaching 343,038 million pesos (17,627 million dollars).
This was especially due to “solid growth” in the three divisions of Femsa Comercio, which includes Proximity, Health and Fuels.
The gross operating flow (EBITDA) was 42,001 million pesos (approximately 2,158 million dollars), an increase of 2.1% compared to the data obtained in the same period of 2017.
In this way, the company continued to earn between January and September, with 955 million dollars, but this represented a substantial fall of 59.3% compared to the same period of the previous year.
As of September 30, 2018, the short-term debt was 10,121 million pesos (about 520 million dollars) and the long-term debt was 79,840 million pesos (about 4,102 million pesos).
Thus, the total debt increased by 6,601 million pesos (339 million dollars).
In the third quarter of 2018, the company obtained profits of only 6,598 million pesos (some 339 million dollars), which contrast with the excellent result of 33,714 million pesos (1,732 million dollars) in the same period a year ago. , 80.4% less.
Sales totaled 118,371 million pesos (6,082 million dollars) between July-September 2018, 7.9% above the figure reported in the same period of the previous year.
EBITDA increased 6.7% to reach 15,046 million pesos (733 million dollars) in the third quarter, up 6.7%.
The general director of Femsa, Eduardo Padilla, commented in a bulletin the business units “advanced steadily” in the third quarter.
“The number of stores, comparable sales and gross margins increased again in our different retail formats and in all of our markets, however, operating margins were slightly under pressure, particularly in Mexico,” he added.
On the strategic front, he continued, he highlighted the entrance to Ecuador, through the Health Division of FEMSA Comercio, with a transaction that is subject to authorization by the authorities.
And he also announced the entrance to Peru with the opening of the first Oxxo store in the city of Lima.
“These two announcements reflect our commitment to continue expanding our small-scale retailer platform throughout Latin America,” said Padilla, who warned of certain macroeconomic uncertainties in several markets.
Femsa is a company that participates in the beverage industry, operating Coca-Cola Femsa, the largest public bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world, and in the beer sector it is the second largest shareholder of Heineken, one of the breweries leaders in the world with presence in more than 70 countries.
In retail it participates with Femsa Comercio, which operates different small format chains, highlighting OXXO as the largest and fastest growing in Latin America.
