Colombia’s Grupo SURA nearly doubles profits in first quarter

(Reuters) – Net profit at Grupo SURA, Colombia’s largest investment company, almost doubled in the first quarter compared to the year-ago period, the company said in a filing on Monday, pointing in part to favorable exchange rate fluctuations.

Net profit for the quarter totaled 834.3 billion pesos.

Quarterly revenue rose almost 40% to reach 9.6 trillion pesos, driven by a 30% increase in premiums and a surge in commissions, according to the company’s earnings report.

“The results of this period reflect the greater devaluation of the Colombian peso against the rest of the currencies in the region and the consolidation of the AFP Proteccion (pension fund),” the company said in its quarterly earnings report.

The report noted that the weaker Colombian peso against other currencies SURA operates in generated “higher growth in all the lines of the financial statements” for its Suramericana y SURA AM units.

Operating expenses, meanwhile, grew 40% from the year-earlier period, mostly hit by exchange rate changes.

Grupo SURA operates in more than 10 countries via holdings in financial services, foodstuffs, cement, energy and infrastructure, as well as investment firms.