SANTIAGO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Chilean retailer Cencosud on Thursday reported a 14.7% drop in third-quarter net profit, citing high borrowing costs and dampened consumption stemming partly from adverse weather in some markets.

Net profit totaled $176 million for the period.

Cencosud's revenues for the July-to-September period totaled $4.3 billion, down 3.3% from a year earlier, the company said.

One of Latin America's largest retailers, with operations ranging from department stores to groceries and home improvement, Cencosud runs businesses in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru as well as its home base in Chile.

Consolidated earnings before taxes, interests, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), or core earnings, totaled $422 million during the three-month period.

"We experienced weak economic growth with low annual inflation, high interest rates and a persistent decline in consumption in discretionary categories," the company said in its statement, explaining the quarterly slide.

It added that the Chilean peso strengthened against other currencies which also dragged results reflected in its home currency, plus the hit to consumption from the weather phenomena known as El Niño.

Cencosud's third quarter results exclude the financial effects of operations in neighboring Argentina which is suffering from triple-digit inflation.

So far this year, Cencosud has opened nearly 500 new stores in its supermarket, home improvement, and department store formats, and it plans to remodel more than 60 stores across the region in what it described as a push to improve the customer experience.

The third quarter results come after former CEO Matias Videla was fined by the regulator for insider trading for purchases of more than 600,000 shares in the firm last year.

Last month, the company appointed Renato Gutierrez as interim chief executive, marking its second attempt to fill the position. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Marion Giraldo; Editing by David Alire Garcia, Isabel Woodford and David Gregorio)