UPDATE 1-Colombia's Grupo SURA sees higher 2024 earnings per share

(Adds details on forecasts)

March 1 (Reuters) - Grupo SURA, one of Colombia's largest investment firms, said on Friday it expects its earnings per share to rise and its net profit to decrease in 2024, when excluding the effects of recent divestments and asset sales that have reshaped the company.

The company on Thursday published its fourth-quarter 2023 financial results, which saw its net profit down 41% year-on-year after it divested its stake in food processing firm Nutresa and sold operations in Argentina and El Salvador.

Looking ahead, earnings per share are seen between 4,100 Colombian pesos and 4,600 Colombian pesos in 2024, up from 4,002 pesos ($1.02) last year when excluding the latest transactions, a company presentation showed.

Net profit in 2024 is estimated to fall to between 1.6 and 1.8 trillion pesos, down from 2.3 trillion pesos ($584.86 million) last year.

The net profit drop is expected to be driven mainly by the exit of Nutresa from SURA's portfolio and weaker results by the firm's asset management arm and Bancolombia, a company executive said during an earnings call.

Adding impacts of the transactions, earnings per share are seen reaching up to 13,000 pesos this year, with net profit surging to between 4.7 and 5.1 trillion pesos.

($1 = 3,932.5700 Colombian pesos) (Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Aida Pelaez Fernandez; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)