By Anthony Harrup


MEXICO CITY -- Mexican retail and beverages company Fomento Económico Mexicano posted double-digit increases in sales and operating profit for the first quarter, while net profit fell after large one-off gains in the year-earlier period.

Femsa, as the company is better known, reported net profit of 5.88 billion Mexican pesos ($343 million) for the January-March period. Profit in the year-earlier quarter was 50.33 billion pesos, which included a 40.61 billion one-time gain from the reclassification of the company's participation in Heineken as it began selling its stake in the Dutch brewer.

First-quarter majority net income was equivalent to 0.82 pesos a share, or $0.49 an American depositary share.

Sales rose 11% to 178.2 billion pesos with increases in most business units. Operating profit grew 14% and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 15% to 25.05 billion pesos.

Sales at the Oxxo convenience store chain rose 15% with same-store sales up 9.7%. The company added 424 stores in the quarter to end March with 23,290 in Mexico and Latin America. Gas station sales were up 14% on higher volume and fuel prices, while the drugstore division saw a 2.3% decline in revenue which the company attributed to competition in Mexico and a challenging environment in Colombia and Ecuador.

Beverages unit Coca-Cola Femsa reported an 11% rise in sales with sales volume up 7.3%.


Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-26-24 1040ET