SÃO PAULO – Brasil Foods SA (BRF) reported net income of 1.6 billion reais ($879 million) for 2011, an increase of 97 percent compared to 2010.

Net sales for 2011 were 25.7 billion reais ($14 billion), a 13.3 percent increase over 2010. BRF attributed the gain to a strong performance in the domestic meat, food-services and export markets. EBITDA advanced 23 percent posting a record 3.2 billion ($1.7 billion) reais.

Net adjusted fourth quarter income declined 6.7 percent to 336 million reais ($184.7 million). The company attributed the decrease to narrower margins on export business during the quarter.

Fourth quarter net sales were 7 billion reais ($3.8 billion), an increase of 10.9 percent compared to the year-ago period. The domestic market accounted for net sales of 3.3 billion reais ($1.8 billion), an increase of 7.6 percent. Elaborated/processed products grew 12.5 percent in revenues and represented 59 percent of the operating margin for the period, largely due to the performance of the festive product line.

Fourth quarter revenue in the food services area advanced 10 percent with an operating margin of 16.8 percent, BRF said. Processed products accounted for 62 percent of the operating result in the segment. The dairy products segment reported an increase of 4.7 percent. Exports amounted to 2.7 billion reais ($1.5 billion) in the fourth quarter, an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the same period in 2010.