Mexico's Walmex reports drop in quarterly profit, missing forecasts

By Natalia Siniawski

MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Walmart's Mexico and Central America unit Walmex WALMEX.MX reported a 3.9% drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, missing analyst forecasts, as a higher tax rate that was adjusted due to inflation weighed on results.

Net profit for Mexico's largest retailer was 14.6 billion pesos for the last three months of 2025, landing below the 16.68 billion pesos predicted by analysts polled by LSEG.

The decline in profit was driven by a higher effective tax rate following year-end inflation adjustments to the company's balance sheet, Chief Financial Officer Paulo Garcia said on a recorded call posted online.

The company expects a 2026 tax rate of between 25% and 26%, Garcia added, noting this remains subject to regulatory changes.

Revenue for the quarter was nevertheless up 3% at 282.85 billion pesos, short of analysts' 287.37 billion pesos estimate, which Garcia attributed to "softer than expected consumption" hitting overall growth.

Growth should accelerate in 2026, CEO Cristian Barrientos added in the call.

Although reported results fell across Walmex's Central American operations during the quarter, they grew when stripping out the effects of foreign exchange.

Mexico's peso strengthened 13.8% versus the U.S. dollar in the 12 months through the end of December, and just over 1.5% in the final quarter, cutting into the value of earnings made abroad.

Barrientos said the company would remain focused on low prices, product availability and accelerating its e-commerce operations.

"We know what we have to do, we have clear priorities and we will accelerate the speed at which we are moving," he said in an earnings report.

Walmex opened 102 stores in Mexico - mostly discount Bodega Aurrera supermarkets - and 13 in Central America, bringing its total footprint to 4,265 stores.

($1 = 18.0080 Mexican pesos at end-December)