Improved Quarter at Avery

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Avery Dennison Corp. on Wednesday said that its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled.

The Pasadena maker of adhesives for mailing labels, road signs and the like reported net income of $114 million ($1.06 per share), compared with $49.9 million (47 cents) a year earlier. Sales rose 8 percent to $1.64 billion.

Excluding restructuring and asset impairment charges, the company had profit of more than $105 million (98 cents). Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected adjusted per-share profit of 97 cents on revenue of 1.6 billion.

For the full year, Avery Dennison reported a profit of $317 million, or $2.97 per share, compared with a loss of $747 million, or -$7.21 per share, in 2009. The 2009 loss was largely due to one-time items. Revenue rose 9.4 percent to $6.51 billion.

“We delivered solid results in 2010, led by sales growth and expanded margins in pressure-sensitive materials and retail information services,” Chief Executive Dean A. Scarborough said in a statement.

Avery’s board increased its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share, 5 cents higher than the previous quarter, and payable on March 16 to shareholders of record on March 2. Directors also authorized the repurchase of up to 5 million additional shares of the company’s outstanding common stock, up from 1 million.

Shares were down 42 cents, or 1 percent, to $41.38 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.