31/01/2012 (Bloomberg) - Unilever Ghana Ltd., a maker of household products in the West African nation, said net income rose 75 percent to 39.9 million cedis ($24 million) last year on earnings from the sale of its palm-oil unit.

Unilever sold its 58 percent stake in Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd. to Wilmar Africa Ltd., a subsidiary of Wilmar International Ltd., in March last year for almost 23 million cedis. Benso’s net income more than tripled to 9.8 million cedis last year, it said today.

Unilever, which makes Lux soap, Blue Band margarine and Omo laundry power, said revenue rose 33 percent to 240.9 million cedis, the Tema, Ghana-based company said in a statement published in the Ghanaian Times newspaper today.

“The company was able to penetrate more into the markets with its products,” Randy Mensah, a stock trader at Accra-based Databank Financial Services Ltd., said by phone today. “It improved and repackaged some of the products for target markets.”

Unilever shares were unchanged at 6.97 cedis in Accra, the capital, today. The stock may “trade aggressively from now to the end of the third quarter on the back of performance,” said Mensah. “Revenue and profitability look northwards, driven by increased consumer demand as disposable incomes rise.”