Nov 08, 2010. /Lesprom Network/. Sappi Limited announces that sales increased to $1.8 billion in the 4Q, a 14% increase on sales in the equivalent quarter last year as a result of increased sales volumes and prices. For the full year sales were 22% higher than the prior year as a result of improved demand, favourable currency movements and the inclusion of the coated paper businesses acquired from M-real for the full year in 2010 compared to 9 months in 2009. Operating profit excluding special items was $129 million for the 4Q, a substantial improvement compared to $38 million in the equivalent quarter last year and compared to $75 million in the June 2010 quarter. Including special items, operating profit was $158 million compared to a loss of $129 million in the equivalent quarter last year. For the full year operating profit excluding special items was $339 million compared to $33 million in the prior year. While special items had an impact on quarterly results through the year the net effect for the full year was only $2 million. Accordingly, operating profit including special items for the year was therefore similar at $341 million compared to a loss of $73 million last year. Earnings per share for the 4Q were $0.16 (including a gain of $0.07 in respect of special items including financing items), compared to a loss of $0.20 in the equivalent quarter last year (which included a loss of $0.18 in respect of special items including financing items). For the full year the group generated a net profit of $66 million and earnings per share of $0.13 (favourably impacted by $0.04 of special items including financing items) compared to a net loss of $177 million and a loss per share of $0.37 (including a loss of $0.13 of special items including financing items) last year. Commenting on the results, Sappi CEO Ralph Boettger said: "The group had a much improved performance for the quarter and for the full year, achieving the highest quarterly operating profit excluding special items for a number of years and net cash generated of $238 million. The performance of each of the businesses improved, particularly those of North America and Southern Africa which are net sellers of pulp and therefore benefited from high pulp prices. "Demand conditions continued to improve gradually and almost all our mills ran at full capacity for the quarter. In Europe we implemented a price increase during September (the third since March) which has started to offset the effect of the substantial increase in pulp input costs experienced over the past year and to restore reasonable margins”. Sappi produces coated fine paper widely used in books, brochures, magazines, catalogues and many other print applications. The company also produces newsprint, uncoated graphic and business papers, premium quality packaging papers, a range of coated speciality papers and a range of paper grade pulp.