Grupo Pao de Acucar, the largest retailer in Brazil, has seen its second-quarter net profit more than halve after financial expenses almost tripled and costs rose faster than revenue.

For the quarter, net profit dropped by 52.7% year-on-year to 62.3m reais ($35m), after financial expenses such as debt servicing soared. The group noted that a programme to parcel out tax payments also affected results, adding that excluding the impact of that move, net profit would have amounted to 103.1m reais.

The drop in profit overshadowed a 38% jump in sales to 7.82bn reais ($4.4bn), which included results from the Globex chain. EBITDA for the period was also up, rising 14% to 394.9m reais, although this was below forecasts of 21% growth.

NamNews - Wednesday 28th July 2010

 

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