MEXICO CITY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Mexican restaurant and

cafe chain operator Alsea on Wednesday posted

third-quarter core earnings that edged up 1.8% from revenues up

2.0%, which the firm attributed partly to cost efficiencies and

strong appetite for its brands in Spain.

The multinational, which operates high-profile restaurant

chains like Domino's Pizza and Starbucks ( SBUX ) in Europe and Latin

America, reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,

and amortization of 2.89 billion pesos ($157.8 billion).

Net profit jumped to 367 million pesos ($20.04 billion) from

11.86 million a year earlier, from revenues of 21.15 billion

pesos.

This landed below the forecasts of analysts polled by LSEG,

who had expected a quarterly net profit of 568 million pesos,

from revenues of 22.16 billion.

($1 = 18.3147 Mexican pesos at end-September)