Alfa Fourth-Quarter Profit Climbs 60% as Auto-Parts Sales Rise

Alfa SAB, which controls Mexico’s largest publicly traded petrochemical company, said fourth- quarter profit rose 60 percent as sales climbed at its auto- parts and food divisions.

Net income advanced to $115 million from $72 million a year earlier, Alfa said today in a statement. Sales increased 4.2 percent to $3.69 billion.

Profit rose after Alfa’s auto-parts unit, Nemak, acquired J.L. French Automotive Castings Inc., an aluminum components producer based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in June. Sales climbed 15 percent at Nemak and 8.3 percent at the Sigma food division, which makes lunch meats, cheese and yogurt.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, advanced 22 percent to $433 million, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico-based Alfa said. That compared with a forecast of $461 million in fourth-quarter Ebitda by Marcos Duran, an analyst at Scotiabank in Mexico City who rates the shares sector underperform.

Sales at Alpek SAB, Alfa’s publicly traded petrochemical division, fell 2.9 percent to $1.67 billion, Alfa said today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan Case in Mexico City at bcase4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net