(Reuters) – Carrefour Brasil reports on Tuesday that the fourth-quarter net profit fell from last year, but it beat expectations due to increased sales.

Carrefour SA’s local French retailer posted an adjusted net profit of 766 Mreais (OTC) – down 13.5% from the previous year, but still higher than the Refinitiv Eikon analyst estimate of 738.2 Million reais.

The adjusted earnings before interest taxes, depreciation, amortization, and taxation (EBITDA), grew 1.4% to 18.5 billion reais.

As its Atacadao unit saw a 6.4% increase in sales, net revenues rose by 4% to 20.6billion reais.

The operating expenses were 2.5 billion reais which was 13.4% higher than the previous year.

Carrefour Brasil said it has opened nine new Cash & Carry stores and two new wholesale units during the fourth quarter, ending the year with a total 779 stores.

Carrefour Brasil published its quarterly results following the January approval by Brazil’s antitrust regulator Cade of Grupo BIG Brasil’s acquisition for 7.5 Billion Reales.

The company also filed a securities filing Tuesday stating that the cost savings from the deal are now 15% higher than its original forecast and adding that the adjusted EBITDA would increase by 2 billion Brazilian reais annually over the next three years.

Stephane Marquaire Chief Executive of Carrefour Brasil stated, “Our multiformat, multichannel ecosystem has strengthened further and the close of Grupo Big, which is expected until June, and whose synergy target have been raised should contribute to an additional year of growth 2022.”

($1 = 5.1590 reais)