UPDATE 2-Grupo Mexico’s fourth-quarter revenue edges up on transport unit

(Provides additional earnings element, context)

By Kylie Madry and Carolina Pulice

MEXICO CITY, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Mexican conglomerate Grupo Mexico on Thursday posted a 5% bump in its fourth-quarter web revenue in comparison with a 12 months earlier, pushed by a lift in its transportation unit whilst its bigger mining enterprise was hit.

Grupo Mexico, a prime 10 world copper producer and a serious Mexican rail operator, reported a fourth-quarter web revenue touchdown at $1.04 billion, helped by a 60% revenue increase in its transport division due to increased costs.

Its mining revenue in the meantime dipped round 6%, it stated, damage by decrease costs for copper, down 16.4% within the final three months of 2022 in comparison with a 12 months earlier.

Copper manufacturing for the quarter held regular at 269,375 tonnes, added Grupo Mexico. The corporate, which owns Southern Copper, reiterated that output had been hampered by an “unlawful blockade” at its Cuajone copper mine in Peru.

Nevertheless a raise from its smaller transport division, aided by increased costs, helped income edge up 0.3% to $3.78 billion for the quarter.

Earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) landed at $2.09 billion, beating the $1.76 billion estimated by analysts polled by Refinitiv regardless of a 4.7% drop from the identical interval in 2021.

Grupo Mexico stated it deliberate to take a position round $1.83 billion in 2023, up from the $1.50 billion it spent in 2022.

The conglomerate is at the moment the frontrunner to purchase Citigroup’s the Mexican retail banking arm, often known as Banamex, sources informed Reuters earlier this week, saying the unit could possibly be value some $7 billion to $8 billion.

Grupo Mexico has secured a $5 billion debt bundle for the proposed acquisition, the sources stated.

Citi executives stated in January the divestiture was “effectively underway,” however stated an preliminary public providing was additionally a viable possibility. They didn’t give a date for the potential deal. (Reporting by Carolina Pulice, Kylie Madry, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Isabel Woodford; Enhancing by Sarah Morland and Christopher Cushing)