SAO PAULO, May 13 (Reuters) - Nu Holdings ( NU ), the

listed entity which runs Brazilian digital lender Nubank, posted

on Tuesday a 37% increase in its adjusted net profit from a year

earlier, slightly missing analysts' estimates.

Nubank, which counts Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A )

among its shareholders, reported a $606.5 million

adjusted net profit for the quarter ended in March, while

analysts in an LSEG poll had expected a $630.5 million profit.

Nubank's result, which was positively impacted by $47

million before taxes due to a revision of fiscal credits, also

came in under a company-provided consensus of $614 million. On a

FX-neutral basis, it jumped 62% year-on-year.

The company has gained its seat among Brazil's major banks

with a full-digital approach during last decade, pushing it to

be the most valuable lender in Latin America by market cap, a

position the company lost again this year to Brazilian peer Itau

Unibanco ( ITUB ).

Chief Financial Officer Guilherme Lago told Reuters that the

profit increase in the quarter was mainly due to greater

profitability in its main market Brazil, with a larger personal

loan portfolio and greater earnings leverage.

Nubank, which has near 119 million customers in Brazil and

its younger markets Colombia and Mexico, said its total revenue

came in at $3.2 billion, increasing 19% year-on-year.

Annualized non-adjusted return on equity stood at 27%,

increasing 4 percentage points from a year earlier, but dropping

two points from the last quarter of 2024.

"A weak print by Nubank," Citi analysts wrote in a note to

clients, citing net interest margin pressure and Colombia's

weighing on revenue and the bottom line.

Nubank ended the quarter with a $24.1 billion credit

portfolio, up 23% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, its early default ratio fell 0.3 percentage

points year-on-year to 4.7%, while the over-90 days ratio

reached 6.5%, rising from 6.3% in the same quarter last year.