Oct 22 (Reuters) - Mexico-based restaurant chain

operator Alsea posted on Tuesday a

worse-than-expected 98% tumble in its third-quarter net profit,

due in part to a weaker Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar

that also drove up financing losses.

Alsea, which operates chain restaurants and cafes including

Starbucks ( SBUX ), Burger King and Domino's Pizza

, also cited "ongoing macroeconomic challenges," and a 90

million euro ($97.15 million) payment related to the acquisition

of a European business earlier in the year.

The slim net profit of about 12 million pesos ($604,000)

included the performance of Alsea's business in Argentina, where

inflation is in the triple digits, and stripped out so-called

IFRS 16 accounting effects, the company said in a statement.

Controlling for those variables, Alsea's net profit for the

quarter would have totaled 186 million pesos, or down around 66%

from the same quarter a year earlier.

Alsea reported that its quarterly revenues rose 6.5% from a

year earlier to total 20.74 billion pesos.

The profit was far below the average forecast of analysts

polled by LSEG, who predicted a quarterly net profit of just

over 600 million pesos from expected revenues of 20.9 billion

pesos.

"Although we are facing a difficult base of comparison,

same-store sales rose by a high-single-digit (7.7%) from last

year," Chief Executive Armando Torres said in a statement.

Alsea reported that its net sales during the three-month

period rose by 11.7% excluding the exchange rate effect, while

sales in Mexico, its main market, were up by 7.9%.

The company's total financing loss during the

July-to-September period rose by about 80% to reach 1.48 billion

pesos, an increase of 658 million pesos compared to the year-ago

period, which it said was mainly due to a weaker Mexican peso.

($1 = 19.6921 Mexican pesos at end-September)

($1 = 0.9264 euros)