Updates with details throughout

MEXICO CITY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Mexican restaurant and cafe chain operator Alsea posted a 45% fall in its fourth-quarter net profit, landing well below analysts' forecasts even as both core earnings and net sales increased.

Net profit for the company, which operates chain restaurants and cafes including Starbucks, Burger King and Domino's Pizza, landed at 575 million pesos ($27.5 million) for the last three months of 2024, while net sales rose 11% to 21.66 billion pesos.

Analysts polled by LSEG expected a fourth-quarter net profit of 934.9 million pesos, from revenues of 22.06 billion pesos.

The company said it Starbucks business in Europe, which was hit by a boycott movement opposing the war in Gaza, had shown "significant recovery" after losing customers through last year, and that it expected traffic to recover further in 2025.

Starbucks earlier this week announced the elimination of some 1,100 corporate jobs as it struggles with falling sales.

Alsea operates fast food restaurants and coffee shops in a dozen countries across Europe and Latin America. While more than half of its sales come from its Mexican operations, close to a third come from its businesses in Western Europe.

Looking into this year, Alsea said it expects sales to grow in the low double digits, while core earnings should increase by a mid single digit. It also expects to spend some 6 billion pesos and open 180 to 220 stores through the year.

Outgoing CEO Armando Torres said in a statement the company was moving forward with an orderly transition, after the board last month named Christian Gurria, who headed up the firm's Starbucks operations in France and the Benelux region, to be its next chief executive, taking over in July this year.

($1 = 20.8829 pesos at end-December)

(Reporting by Sarah Morland and David Alire Garcia; Editing by Kylie Madry)

((david.aliregarcia@thomsonreuters.com; +52 55 5282 7151; Reuters Messaging: david.aliregarcia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))