Mexico City, April 28 - Mexico's Femsa, Latin America's largest bottler and brewer, posted a 13.1 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Monday as sales increased in all its business units.
Femsa, brewer of Tecate, Sol and Dos Equis beers, said its January-to-March net profit was 1.292 billion pesos ($121 million).
Revenue increased 8.4 percent to 36.181 billion pesos, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 15.6 percent to 6.136 billion pesos.
Beer sales by volume grew 7.1 percent in Mexico and 2.9 percent in Brazil, with exports up 12.6 percent on increased buying of Dos Equis and Tecate in the United States and Sol in other markets, Femsa said.
The company said it saw double digit growth in the U.S. market, despite a generalized slowdown in imported beer sales there, with U.S. sales accounting for two-thirds of the higher export volume.
"We began 2008 with strong first-quarter results and the conviction that, once again, we will successfully face what appears to be another year of big challenges," Chief Executive Jose Antonio Fernandez said in a statement.
Beer sales in the United States account for 8.4 percent of the unit's revenue, while more than two-thirds of sales come from Mexico and 15.1 percent from sales are in Brazil.
The company's Oxxo chain, the largest corner store group in Latin America selling Femsa's beers and Coca-Cola Co soft drinks alongside snacks, opened 73 stores in the quarter, bringing the total to 5,636.
Total revenue from Oxxo stores rose 16.4 percent, while sales at stores open for more than one year grew 5.1 percent.
Femsa's Coke bottler affiliate, Coca-Cola Femsa, saw its sales rise 6.4 percent in the quarter. Also known as KOF, the bottler is the second-largest Coke maker in the world.