MEXICO CITY, Feb 13 (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)