Colombian chocolate-to-pasta maker Grupo Nutresa has booked higher nine-month sales and operating profit but reported a fall in net earnings.

Nutresa posted sales of COP6.4trn (US$2.1bn) for the nine months to September of this year – an increase of 13% over the same period last year. Without acquisitions, Nutresa said growth was 11.7%.

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The company posted gross profit for the period of COP2.7trn, an increase of 10.6% over the same period last year. Nutresa said the result reflects “the combined effect of the increase in average prices and the rise in the prices of some raw materials”, Nutresa said. Operating profit rose 10.5% to COP648.36bn.

However, an increase in the benchmark interest rates during the last year led to a rise in the cost of Nutresa’s debt. The group’s net profit stood at COP316.1m, down 3.6%, on the first nine months of 2015.

Nutresa said sales in Colombia for the first nine months of this year totalled COP3.9trn and represented 61.1% of its overall sales, up 10.5% on a year earlier. “Organically, growth is 8.5%, supported by an improved product mix, innovations and an increase in average prices,” the group said.totalled COP3.9trn and represented 61.1% of the total, which was an increase of 10.5%. “Organically, growth is 8.5%, supported by an improved product mix, innovations and an increase in average prices,” the group said.

Sales abroad were up 17.1% to COP2.5trn compared to the period up to the end of September 2015 and represented 38.9% of the total, Nutresa said.

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In the summer, Nutresa reported total sales of COP4.2trn for the first half of 2016 – a 17.4% increase compared to the same period last year.