Walmart’s margins in Mexico tighten as costs outpace sales growth

MEXICO CITY, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Walmart’s Mexico unit missed third-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday as rising costs and investments ate into margins, overshadowing double-digit e-commerce growth.

Net profit fell 6% to 11.03 billion pesos ($610 million), below the 12.26 billion pesos expected by analysts polled by LSEG, while revenue also came in shy of forecasts.

• Mexico’s biggest retailer posted total revenue of 248.83 billion pesos for the July-September period, up 3% from a year earlier but below the 250.44 billion pesos expected by analysts

• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose just 0.4% to 25.37 billion pesos, while EBITDA margin narrowed 30 basis points to 10.2%

• The margin pressure came as general expenses rose nearly 6% from the year-earlier quarter, with sales expenses also up more than 6% due to growth investments

• Same-store sales rose almost 2% in Mexico, where ticket growth was 1.6% and traffic was broadly flat

• E-commerce remained a bright spot, with online gross merchandise value (GMV) up 15% in Mexico and 23% in Central America

($1 = 18.0808 pesos at end-September)