SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza SA reported on Thursday an adjusted net loss of 146 million reais ($27.4 million), the company’s fourth straight quarterly loss as its bottom line suffered from higher interest rates.
The company posted an adjusted net profit of 22.6 million reais during the year-ago period.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 50.3% year-on-year to 527.5 million reais.
Magazine Luiza posted 2% sales growth to 14.15 billion reais. E-commerce sales rose 3% in the July-to-September period to 10 billion reais.
The retailer sells consumer goods in physical stores and online, including home appliances, electronics, furniture, cosmetics, toys and sporting goods; and offers insurance and other financial services.
In its quarterly earnings report, it said it overcame lingering pandemic effects and other macroeconomic challenges, especially Brazil’s 13.75% benchmark interest rate, the result of aggressive monetary tightening aimed at curbing inflation.
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“In this turbulent period, the company’s market share in the online (sector) grew by 3.2 percentage points,” the company said in a statement.
To help mitigate the impact of high interest rates, the retailer cut the number of installments for payments and expanded the use of a payment system that reduces associated financial costs, among other measures, said Vanessa Rossini, the company’s investor manager.
($1 = 5.3356 reais)
(Reporting by Andre Romani; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Richard Chang)