On Saturday, popular retailer of Chile, Ripley shared that its net earnings for 2009 managed to dip by 76% as compared to the previous year, as revenues declined and the group increased provisions for bad debt during the global financial meltdown.

Ripley, the owner and operator of stores across Chile and Peru, posted a net earnings of 6.548 Billion Pesos ($12.9 Million) for the past year, a substantial fall from the figure of 26.907 Billion Pesos ($53.1 Million) posted for 2008.

The disappointing results have been attributed by the company to a significant drop i revenues, which slipped by 11% on a year-on-year basis to about 887.998 Billion Pesos ($1.753 Billion).

Also, the group shared that it had increased provisions in its customer credit division, as a means to help guard against uncertainty which was generated by the previous year's financial crisis.