FEMSA Announces First Quarter 2017 Results

MONTERREY, MEXICO--(Marketwired - Apr 28, 2017) - Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA") (NYSE: FMX) (BMV: FEMSAUBD) (BMV: FEMSAUB) announced today its operational and financial results for the first quarter of 2017.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• 29.1% revenue growth (18.6% on an organic¹ basis) at FEMSA Consolidated
• 5.7% same-store sales growth at FEMSA Comercio's Retail Division, including 2.5% growth in traffic
• 26.4% revenue growth at FEMSA Comercio's Health Division
• 24.8% same-station sales growth at FEMSA Comercio's Fuel Division
• 38.4% revenue growth (16.5% on an organic¹ basis) at Coca-Cola FEMSA

FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2017
Change vs. same period of last year
			Revenues		Gross Profit		Income from Operations		Same-Store Sales
FEMSA CONSOLIDATED			29.1%		26.2%		18.7%
FEMSA COMERCIO
	Retail Division		11.9%		15.7%		-2.9%		5.7%
	Health Division		26.4%		29.0%		0.8%		20.7%
	Fuel Division		49.9%		33.8%		113.8%		24.8%
COCA-COLA FEMSA			38.4%		31.8%		24.1%

Carlos Salazar Lomelín, FEMSA's CEO, commented: "We started the first quarter knowing that we would face significant calendar headwinds relative to last year, with one less weekend in January, one less day in February, and a negative shift in the timing of Holy Week. Fortunately, consumption trends in Mexico remained solid and our team again managed to deliver strong results. At FEMSA Comercio, structurally we were again able to drive revenue growth and gross margin expansion, which is very positive. Operating expenses grew ahead of revenues, putting some pressure on operating margins, but the reasons for this are well understood and short-term in nature. Therefore, we are optimistic about our ability to keep driving long-term earnings growth across our retail formats. At Coca-Cola FEMSA, Mexico was again our main engine for organic earnings growth during the first quarter, as most of our South American markets continued to face challenging macro headwinds. But we keep growing the platform, having now closed the acquisition of the Ades soy-based beverage portfolio, and we are happy to fully consolidate the operation in the Philippines going forward.

As we head into the second quarter, we should benefit from the positive calendar shift in April and from what still looks like a resilient consumer in Mexico, and we will continue to make progress executing our strategy and growing our business. We cannot get complacent, and there are challenges and uncertainties ahead, but we have a great team and a robust business platform that allow us to remain cautiously optimistic. We are off to a solid start in 2017."

The translations of Mexican pesos into US dollars are included solely for the convenience of the reader, using the noon buying rate for Mexican pesos as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on March 30, 2017, which was 18.8290 Mexican pesos per US dollar.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning our future performance that should be considered as good faith estimates made by us. These forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which could materially impact our actual performance.

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Retail Division operating various small-format store chains including OXXO, a Fuel Division, operating the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations, and a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related operations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.

¹ Excludes the effects of significant mergers and acquisitions in the last twelve months. Includes the results of Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines Inc., as if consolidation had taken place at the beginning of first quarter 2016.