Coca-Cola Femsa reported net profit of 3.54 billion pesos ($275 million) in the July-September quarter, or MXN1.74 per share, compared with MXN2.31 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
Sales rose 20% to MXN36.19 billion from MXN30.08 billion, much of which was the result of the company last year acquiring three new distribution territories in Mexico. Excluding the acquisitions, sales rose 9.6%.
Sales volume rose 18% to 759.4 million unit cases, with most of the growth coming from the acquisitions. Operating profit grew 27% to MXN5.49 billion from MXN4.33 billion.
"After facing a very tough commodity and volatile currency environment over the past several quarters, we look forward to a strong close of the year," Chief Executive Carlos Salazar said in a release.
The company, Latin America's largest Coca-Cola bottler, said the stronger Mexican peso in the quarter led to a sharp drop in financing costs, which fell to MXN20 million from MXN355 million in the third quarter of 2011, contributing to the increase in net profit.
