Cencosud, one of Latin America’s largest retailers, has posted a 30 per cent decrease in its 2008 net profit to US$254.5m, compared with US$228.8bn in 2007, according to a report by Reuters.
The Chilean-owned group attributed the shortfall to extraordinary gains in 2007, adding that excluding one-off profits from stake sales net profit rose by 0.5 per cent during 2008.
Sales for the full year rose by 49 per cent, with Chilean operations accounting for 43.8 per cent of sales, followed by Argentina (35.1 per cent), Brazil (11.2 per cent) and Peru (10 per cent).
In the fourth quarter of 2008, Cencosud said revenues grew by 61.7 per cent to US$3m, of which Brazilian and Peruvian operations accounted for 22.8 per cent.
The company added that its 2009 investment plan would be reduced by US$97m after it put the brakes on a US$500m mega-mall project due to the economic crisis.
