Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc said full- year profit in 2010 rose 29 percent to 12.6 billion naira ($82.4 million) as sales climbed.

“This is a very encouraging result,” Esili Eigbe, a Lagos-based analyst with Stanbic IBTC Bank, said by phone today. The result beat Stanbic’s estimates by 1 percent, he said.

Sales rose to 82.7 billion naira, from 68.3 billion naira, according to a statement e-mailed by the Lagos-based Nigerian Stock Exchange today. A dividend of 10.6 naira was proposed.

Nestle opened a factory near Lagos on Feb. 3 and said it could double its business in Africa’s most populous country within three years. The new plant may increase the company’s earnings by 19 percent in 2011, Eigbe said.

The stock rose to its highest since at least January 2002, adding 20.55 naira, or the maximum daily limit of 5 percent, to close at 431.55 naira.
Source: Bloomberg