Wal-Mart de Mexico Same-Store Sales Jump Most Since 2006

(Updates with historical comparison in first paragraph.)

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB, Latin America’s biggest retailer, said Mexican same-store sales rose 12.6 percent in November from a year earlier, the biggest gain in almost five years.

Total sales for Mexico and Central America were 35 billion pesos ($2.6 billion), the company said today in a statement. Same-store sales in Central America dropped 0.3 percent from a year earlier. The increase in Mexico was the biggest since a 13.4 percent gain in December 2006, according to company data.

Wal-Mart de Mexico is luring more shoppers because of a government-sponsored initiative to offer discounts over a four- day period last month around a holiday weekend. President Felipe Calderon backed the plan, offering to pay year-end bonuses early to government workers.

Mexico’s economy is expected to expand 3.7 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

--Editors: James Callan, Niamh Ring

To contact the reporters on this story: Crayton Harrison in Mexico City at tharrison5@bloomberg.net; Jonathan J. Levin in Mexico City at jlevin20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jose Enrique Arrioja at jarrioja@bloomberg.net