Chile's Cencosud posts uptick in profits boosted by core business

SANTIAGO(Reuters) - Chilean retailer Cencosud posted a 22% rise in its fourth-quarter profit last year, the company said in a statement on Thursday, boosted by stronger results in its core business such as supermarkets.

The result excludes financial effects from its operations in Argentina.

Cencosud's net profit in the October-to-December period totaled 251.028 billion pesos ($292 million).

One of Latin America's largest retailers, with operations ranging from department stores to groceries and home improvement, Cencosud runs businesses in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru as well as its home base in Chile.

The Santiago-based retailer scrubs out volatile financial effects from its Argentine operations due in part to nearly triple-digit inflation there. But it does provide quarterly data that includes Argentina separately.

Including the effect of surging consumer prices in the South American country, Cencosud's quarterly gains would have narrowed to total 170.326 billion pesos ($198 million), dipping by nearly 3% compared to the year-ago period, according to the firm.

Cencosud reported overall revenue growth of about 10% year-on-year to reach 3.9 trillion pesos during the last three months of 2022.

(1 dollar = 859.51 pesos at end-December)

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia)