Carlos Slim's conglomerate Carso reports higher first-quarter profit

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Billionaire Carlos Slim's conglomerate Grupo Carso on Thursday reported a higher first-quarter profit as lower sales and financing costs offset a dip in revenue. The conglomerate's businesses, which include construction, retail, real estate and oil services among others, reported a 4.5 percent lower revenue in the January-March period compared with the year earlier. Profit rose 21 percent to 1.689 billion pesos (76 million pounds) from 1.4 billion pesos in the year-earlier period, helped by lower debt payments and a drop in sales costs that outpaced the revenue decline. The retail division, which includes Slim's Sanborns chain of cafes and his Sears department stores among others, reported a drop in same-store sales of between 2 percent and 5.8 percent, reflecting weaker consumer spending. Carso's industrial division reported lower revenue from all its businesses except its transformers unit and a unit that builds cables for cars. The infrastructure and construction division also reported broadly lower revenue, except in its cable-laying and civil engineering businesses. Slim's biggest business, phone company America Movil , is due to report first-quarter results on Tuesday. (Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)