By Anthony Harrup 
 

MEXICO CITY--Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB said its net profit rose 18% in the first quarter on higher sales that were helped by the Easter holiday in March and by market-share gains.

The unit of Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart Inc., known as Walmex, made net profit of 8.35 billion Mexican pesos ($443 million) in the January-March period, up from 7.06 billion pesos in the first quarter of 2017.

Walmex, which runs 3,156 stores in Mexico and Central America, said sales in the quarter grew 9.4%, to 145.1 billion pesos, and were up 11.4% in constant currency terms. Same-store sales, which exclude stores opened in the past year, rose 10% in Mexico and 7.1% in Central America.

Cash flow measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 13% to 14.4 billion pesos.

Sales were helped by the Easter holiday moving this year to March from April. Holiday spending favors retailers since many businesses close for part or all of the week and Mexicans flock to vacation spots.

"We started the year on the right foot," Walmex chief executive Guilherme Loureiro said in a webcast presentation of the results. "The second quarter will be more challenging, as we face a negative calendar effect because of the Easter shift and the promotional activity of our competitors is intensifying."

Mr. Loureiro said Walmex's sales grew at a faster pace than those of its peers in Mexican retail association Antad for a 13th consecutive quarter. The 3.5% increase in the number of customers that Walmex served in Mexico was the highest growth in eight years, he added.

--Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2018 18:02 ET (22:02 GMT)