Feb 24 (Reuters) - Mexican restaurant operator Alsea said on Thursday its fourth-quarter net profit grew seven-fold from a year ago, as sales recovered after COVID-19 restrictions were loosened.

Net profit of 835.2 million pesos ($40.7 million) was up from 116 million pesos a year earlier, when the dining sector was pressured by the pandemic, and beat a Refinitiv forecast of 342 million pesos.

"The company has reached sales levels within restaurants similar to 2019, and had a 25% increase of home sales in comparison to Q4 the previous year," Alsea said, adding the results also benefited from better cost controls.

Alsea, whose franchises include coffee chain Starbucks , Domino's Pizza and Burger King in several countries, posted revenue in the last three months of the year of 16.7 billion pesos, up 49% from a year ago, boosted by more consumption and mobility in the quarter.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 4.2 billion pesos, beating the Refinitiv forecast of 3.25 billion pesos.

Despite analysts' concerns that price increases in Mexico would affect consumers, Alsea said restaurant traffic was solid and food deliveries continued to play an important role.

($1 = 20.5075 pesos at end-December) (Reporting by Carolina Pulice and Noe Torres; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Richard Chang and Jane Wardell)