Chile Cencosud has strong start to '08

By Antonio de la Jara

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Giant Chilean retailer Cencosud CEN.SN had a strong start to 2008, exceeding its own expectations in the first quarter amid expansion in South America, Chief Executive Laurence Golborne said on Friday.

Golborne told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Chile that the company would invest nearly $600 million this year, but it would also focus on consolidating its operations after a shopping spree in Brazil and Peru in 2007.

"In general terms, the first quarter was a good quarter ... We were a bit more conservative in our budget and the situation in the first quarter was above what we had budgeted -- slightly above," Golborne said.

The company, which runs supermarkets, department stores and other stores that sell housewares and construction materials, also plans to issue up to $455 million in bonds on the local market mostly to refinance debt around the middle of the year, he added.

In 2007, Cencosud struck a deal to enter into the Colombian market, after it bought a Brazilian supermarket chain and the operations of Peru's largest supermarket chain.

Cencosud, which is headquartered in Santiago and operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru, has forecast consolidated sales of more than $10.3 billion for 2008.

In 2007, the company posted a net profit of $422 million on sales of $7.6 billion.

Cencosud aims to open its first 'Paris' store in Argentina next year, though permission is still pending, while in Brazil "sales levels have gone reasonably well ... and we are going to invest around $60 million in new shops," Golborne said.  Continued...