MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) -

Walmart's Mexico and Central America unit posted

a 14.4% year-on-year rise in its first-quarter net profit on

Wednesday, fueled by strong same-store sales growth across its

markets.

Walmart de Mexico, the country's largest retailer,

posted a net profit of 13.18 billion pesos ($797.5 million),

above the average forecast of 12.93 billion pesos seen by

analysts polled by LSEG.

The company, also known as Walmex, said in a filing to

Mexico's main stock exchange that same-store sales grew 9.4% in

Mexico and 8.0% in Central America.

Quarterly revenue at the department store and grocery

chain rose 9.8% from the same quarter a year earlier to reach

226.19 billion pesos, beating the mean estimate of 224.41

billion from analysts polled by LSEG.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and

amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter rose 10.3% to 24.62

billion pesos.

($1 = 16.5310 Mexican pesos at end-March)