Cencosud, the holding company of Paris Department Stores and Johnson, has ended H1 2019 with its sales down but with a triple-digit increase in its profit. Revenues in the first six months of the year were $6.3bn, 4.5% less than in the same period the previous year. Despite the decline, the company has returned to shoot its profits, accumulating a profit of $185.8mn, more than double the net result of $77.6mn of the first semester of 2018. However, Cencosud entered red numbers in Q2, with losses of $26.2mn. Ecommerce grew by 22% in Q2, with double-digit advances in all segments in which it operates in this channel. Department stores increased their income on the network by 17.6%, while supermarkets did 11.6% and those for home improvement shot up 53.8% between April and June. By markets, Cencosud raised its total revenues only in Peru, with a 5% YoY increase, to $675.3mn. In the rest of the countries in which it operates, the group reduced its turnover, with Argentina being the market where sales fell most strongly, registering a decrease of 24.3%, to $1.524bn. Cencosud department stores were also down in the first half, with a contraction of 4.6%, to $725.9mn. The company, which operates only in its local market and in Peru with this segment, invoiced $661.4mn in Chile, 6.1% less than in the first six months of the previous year. On the other hand, the department stores of Cencosud in Peru managed to remain standing, with a growth of 13.1%, up to $64.5mn.