MEXICO CITY Carrefour Brasil reported a 95.2% drop in its second-quarter adjusted net profit to reach 29 million reais ($6.10 million), hit by the financial impact of its integration with BIG Group, the company said on Tuesday.

The Brazilian arm of French retailer Carrefour SA said that net sales rose 8.1% to reach 25.95 billion reais in the second-quarter, while its wholesale units posted 4.6% sales growth year-on-year.

Carrefour's Brazilian unit said operating expenses soared 32.2% from a year earlier to total 3.8 billion reais.

Carrefour Brasil, which bought BIG in mid-2022, said it has concluded the conversion of BIG stores in June, and that it plans to ramp-up sales there by the next quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Stephane Maquaire told reporters that the company now plans to develop the converted stores to see its positive impact in results in the coming months.

"The more we have the maturation of sales, the more we have the opportunity to grow in the EBITDA margin," he said.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the company fell 21.7% to total 1.34 billion reais, but the firm saw 6% drop in adjusted EBITDA when excluding Grupo BIG, reaching 1.5 billion reais.

Carrefour Brasil said it has opened six new wholesale format stores and 47 converted BIG stores in the second-quarter.

($1 = 4.7520 reais)

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)