Profit falls 55% Lojas Americanas in the 1st tri without Easter and with greater interest

Lojas Americanas saw its profit fall more than half in the first quarter over a year earlier, affected by the absence of the Easter holiday in the period and the effect of increased interest on the financial result.
The company had net profit of 25.9 million reais from January to March, down 55 percent compared with same step of 2013, when Easter, an important holiday for national retailers, occurred in March.
The drop in profit was hit by the high negative financial result of 27 percent to 290 million reals.
The cash generation as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) adjusted rose 9.2 percent year on year to 384.1 million reais. During the period, the margin remained practically stable, at 11.3 percent.
In the range of a year, Lojas Americanas has increased its base of stores in 124 units, to 856. "In 2014, so far, we opened 23 stores and we have over 70 shops under contract or in advanced stages of negotiation," said the company on the balance sheet.
Consolidated net revenue of the company, which also controls the e-commerce company B2W, advanced 8.2 percent in the first quarter over the same period of last year to 3.39 billion reais.
At the level of the parent company, revenue fell 4.4 percent to 1.769 billion reais. The average forecast of analysts in a Reuters survey pointed to net revenues of the parent company at 1.8 billion reais.
Including April last year, Lojas Americanas said have had 10 percent expansion in net revenues in the "same stores" concept, which considers points open for at least one year.
The working capital of Lojas Americanas has increased in five days in the first quarter. The worsening that line occurred by mismatching the Easter holiday with last year and also by the opening of the fourth company distribution center in Uberlândia (State of Minas Gerais), which raised the level of the company's stocks.
"We believe that this effect is punctual and that throughout the year, with the operating leverage of the new Center, the company's net working capital will be benefited," said Lojas Americanas in the balance sheet.
The company invested 136.6 million reais in the first quarter, of which 55 percent in inaugurations or improvement works.