Mexican baker Bimbo 1st-quarter net slips 3.6 pct

MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) - Mexican bread maker Bimbo said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit fell 3.6 percent as higher ingredient costs pressured gross margins but revenue rose, helped by higher prices and product mix.

Bimbo (BIMBOA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), with operations in the United States and Latin America, earned 791 million pesos ($74 million) in the January-March period compared with 821 million pesos in the year-ago quarter.

"Strong price escalation in a major part of the company's key raw materials, particularly wheat flour, eggs, oils and fats, continued to put pressure on the cost of goods sold," Bimbo said in a release.

But net sales rose 8.6 percent to 19.027 billion pesos, driven by its Mexican operations. The company pushed its prices up in the baking division back in December. "It is worth noting that an additional price increase was implemented in late March," the company added.

In the United States, the company's sales rose 3.4 percent in the first quarter helped by higher volumes and new product launches.

The rest of its Latin American operations posted a strong quarterly sales rise of 20.6 percent. ($1=10.6420 pesos as of end March) (Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)