MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Walmart's ( WMT ) Mexico and Central America unit reported a 1.4% bump in its fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, coming in at 15.2 billion Mexican pesos ($729 million), slightly below analysts' forecasts as its general expenses jumped some 15%.

Analysts polled by LSEG had forecast profits of some 16.55 billion pesos.

Net sales for the quarter were up 8.3% from the previous year to reach 272.88 billion Mexican pesos ($13.06 billion), from revenues that landed in line with analysts forecasts.

Core earnings, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter rose 2.5% to 27.38 billion pesos, slightly below an LSEG estimate of 28.97 billion pesos.

($1 = 20.8829 Mexican pesos at end-December)