Mexican restaurant operator Alsea's first quarter profit dips 24%

MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - Mexican restaurant and cafe chain operator Alsea ALSEA.MX posted a first quarter net profit that dipped by nearly a quarter, hitting some 335 million pesos ($16.3 million) on Tuesday and landing well below analysts' forecasts.

Analysts polled by LSEG had predicted the Mexican multinational, which operates high profile restaurant chains such as Domino's Pizza and Starbucks in Europe and Latin America, would bring in more than double at 697.1 million pesos.

The company's net income attributable to controlling interests came in at 333.8 million pesos, and the figure landed at 227.4 million pesos excluding the impact of IFRS 16 accounting standards and effects from Argentine inflation.

Revenues, meanwhile, rose 12.8% over January to March, landing at around 20.0 billion pesos, a touch under a LSEG forecast of 20.32 billion pesos.

CEO Armando Torrado said in a statement the quarter reflected a strong, resilient brand portfolio "despite a challenging macro-economic environment and more cautious consumer due to the volatility and uncertainty generated in the first part of this year."

The company also saw a 5.3% drop in local currency terms in its European income, dragged by negative calendar affects and a weaker performance in France and the Benelux zone, though this was partly offset by strong sales in Spain.

Alsea started to see "signs of recovery after a challenging period" for Starbucks in France, Torrado said.

The coffee chain has been hit by a boycott campaign targeting certain U.S. companies in protest over Israel's war in Gaza.

Christian Gurria, who heads Alsea's Starbucks operations in France and Benelux, is set to succeed Torrado as CEO in July.

Close to a third of Alsea's sales come from its Western Europe businesses while over half comes from Mexico, where Alsea last week entered a partnership with Chipotle Mexican Grill to expand inside Latin America's No. 2 economy.

($1 = 20.4604 pesos at end-March)