Boosted by strong sales from its health-care unit, Bayer AG reported fourth-quarter net profit of $411 million, up from $61 million in the year-ago quarter and well above analysts' projections of $81 million.

Fourth-quarter sales for the drug and chemicals maker, which bought rival drug maker Schering AG last year, jumped by 25 percent to $10.5 billion from $8.4 billion the previous year.

For all of 2006, Germany-based Bayer earned $2.2 billion, up from $2.1 billion the prior year and beating analysts' estimates of $1.83 billion. Annual sales reached $38.2 billion, up from $32.7 billion. The company reported exceptional charges of $945.2 million, which included $359.9 million related to its acquisition of Schering and $263.7 million for restructuring costs.

At Bayer's North American operations, which are based in Robinson, sales jumped by nearly 20 percent to $10.2 billion. A spokeswoman said the strong performance resulted from improvements in the North American health-care division, especially the consumer health division; and from improvements in the material sciences business, which includes polyurethanes, coatings, adhesives and sealants.

Commenting on a 75 percent surge in sales from the health-care unit in the fourth quarter, Bayer Chief Executive Officer Werner Wenning said especially strong results were posted by Yasmin, an oral contraceptive produced by Schering; Levitra, Bayer's erectile dysfunction drug; and Nexavar, a cancer drug introduced last year.

He expects annual group sales to rise by 5 percent in the current fiscal year.