MEXICO CITY, April 23 (Reuters) - Mexican conglomerate Alfa on Tuesday posted a first-quarter net profit of 1.02 billion pesos ($62 million), swinging to profit from the loss of 252 million pesos it posted a year earlier, citing a strong performance by its food unit.

The Monterrey-based company, whose business lines include food and petrochemicals, said revenue for the first quarter of 2024 was 69.78 billion pesos, down 8.6% from the year before.

Revenues at Alfa's chemicals arm Alpek were hit by the appreciation of the peso, which was up 8% against the U.S. dollar at the end of March compared to the previous year, though food unit Sigma scored record volumes.

The conglomerate is aiming to spin off Alpek into a new listed entity to avoid the weaker results of one affecting the valuation of the other, as it previously did with its telecommunications unit Axtel and auto parts maker Nemak.

Net debt was 84.95 billion pesos at the end of March.

In a statement, Chief Executive Alvaro Fernandez said cutting down the company's debt was a "key element of Alfa's final phase of transformation."

"Aggregate debt outside Alpek must be reduced to maintain a healthy leverage supported by the generation of Sigma's cash flow," he said.

Operating profit, meanwhile, landed at 4.91 billion pesos, up 25% from a year earlier thanks to a good performance at Sigma.

Alpek also boosted earnings, despite higher costs linked to the closure of PET operations at its Cooper River site. (Reporting by Sarah Morland, Marion Giraldo and Aida Fernandez Pelaez; Editing by Valentine Hilaire and Jamie Freed)