MEXICO CITY, April 15 (Reuters) – Mexico’s top retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico on Friday reported a first-quarter profit that missed analysts’ expectations, as a pickup in sales was offset by higher costs.

The retailer, known locally as Walmex (WALMEXV.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has been expanding aggressively even as consumer spending in the region has been slow to recover from the recession.

Walmex reported a profit of of 4.665 billion pesos ($392 million), up from 4.113 billion pesos in the year-earlier quarter. That was below expectations of a profit of 4.96 billion pesos, according to a Reuters’ survey of five analysts. [ID:nN12199486]

“Expenses grew faster than sales as a result of our planned investment in Mexico and Central America to improve the operation and drive future sales,” said Chief Financial Officer Rafael Matute said on a pre-recorded call.

General expenses rose 22 percent to 12.328 billion pesos in the first quarter while revenue climbed 18 percent to 85.48 billion pesos, according to the company’s statement.

This year’s late Easter holiday also affected sales in the quarter, Matute said, adding that he expects sales to pick up in April. “We still think (consumer) purchasing power will slowly recover.”

Walmex did not give further details about its increase in costs.

MEXICO CITY, April 13 (Reuters) – Foreign money managers may help invest assets on behalf of Mexican pension funds under new rules being rolled out in coming months, the funds’ chief regulator said on Wednesday.

Mexico’s private pensions, known as Afores, are by law allowed to bet 20 percent of their roughly $118 billion in assets on foreign stocks and bonds.

Foreign asset managers could collect handsome fees from the Afores if they are tapped to invest their cash.

The new rules will enable the Afores to invite the most sophisticated, experienced money managers to help maximize returns, Pedro Ordorica, the head of Mexican pension fund regulator Consar, told Reuters in an interview.

“This is a very substantial change. Above all, in terms of foreign investments,” Ordorica said, adding that this would help level the playing field between large pension funds that have in-house investment teams with smaller Afores.

Investors closely watch the Afores for clues on where they will dole out their considerable resources and whether they will expand holdings of foreign assets.

Since Mexico’s pension industry was privatized in the late 1990s, fund managers have been competing for clients and slowly diversifying their portfolios — shedding ultra-safe government bonds in favor of foreign stock, local private equity and infrastructure projects.

MONTERREY (Reuters) – Soriana, Mexico’s No. 2 retailer, has aggressive expansion plans and will probably not pay a dividend this year, Chief Financial Officer Aurelio Adan said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit.

Mexico’s economy is recovering from recession but consumer spending has remained sluggish and local supermarket chains, engaged in a fierce price war, have struggled amid rising prices for raw materials.

Still, Adan was upbeat about sales in the second quarter and said the chain expects growth at stores open more than a year could be almost double last year’s levels.

To fuel sales growth, Soriana plans to add almost 200 stores in the next four years.

The supermarket chain, which ended 2010 with 508 stores, hopes to have 700 by 2014 and expects to spend 16 billion pesos ($1.3 billion) to reach this goal, Adan said on Wednesday.

“The expansion plan is still very aggressive,” he said.

The retailer may also start to think about expanding outside of Mexico in the longer term.

MEXICO CITY, March 30 (Reuters) – Banorte, Mexico’s No. 3 bank by the size of its loan book, is looking to expand further in Texas, Chief Executive Alejandro Valenzuela said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Mexico City.

Grupo Financiero Banorte (GFNORTEO.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) is considering either buying a U.S. bank through the auction process for failed banks run by a U.S. regulator, or through a joint venture with a local bank.

“We’re considering the possibilities,” said Valenzuela in an interview late on Tuesday.

The bank’s existing U.S. unit, Texas-based Inter National Bank, is currently under a formal agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after the regulator became concerned about the bank’s credit exposure.

Valenzuela is hopeful the OCC will lift the agreement within the next 12 months, allowing Banorte to consider expanding.

“We are analyzing (acquisition targets) right now, you can’t wait because you might miss opportunities,” he said.

Texas is attractive because it shares a large border with Mexico, it is a state that has many small banks rather than large ones and it has not suffered as severe a financial crisis as others such as California, he explained.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s top retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico (WALMEXV.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is looking to trim supply-chain costs in the country, Chief Executive Scott Rank said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Mexico City.

Lowering supply costs would help the retailer’s margins as it tries to cope with higher raw material costs while customers remain sensitive to price increases.

Known locally as Walmex, the company a year ago completed the purchase of Walmart Centroamerica, a business that included 500 stores across five countries as well as a farming business that supplied stores with perishable goods.

Rank said the company is learning from that acquisition and considering ways to improve its supply chain in Mexico, where there can be large distances between stores and providers. He did not give details of specific projects.

“Here in Mexico we transport sometimes very perishable goods over large distances,” he said. “We’re looking into ways that we might be able to buy closer to our stores, or invest in training and support to communities so that they can focus on (producing) a certain kind of product,” he explained.

Although the acquisition of the stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica bolstered the company’s sales last year, higher costs ate into earnings and it just missed analysts’ expectations.

CONSUMER RECOVERY