Feb. 10 - CDL Investments, the residential property developer controlled by Millennium - Copthorne Hotels New Zealand, posted a 9.7 percent increase in full-year profit on a jump in sales of sections.

Profit rose to $14.7 million, or 5.35 cents a share, in calendar 2014, from $13.4 million, or 4.92 cents, a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Sales rose to $44 million from $38.3 million.

Managing director Boo Keng Chiu said the result was the company's best for seven years and reflected "the continued level of positive market activity within the key areas of our land portfolio." There were "buoyant market conditions" in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury, the company said.

The shares climbed 8.3 percent to 65 cents on the NZX, to reach their highest level since 1987.

CDL sold 248 sections in 2014, up from 202 the previous year. Its land holdings were worth $206 million at Dec. 31, up from $177.5 million 12 months earlier. The company bought 4.1 hectares of land in Auckland last year.

The company will pay dividend of 2.2 cents a share on May 15, with a record date of May 1, up from 2 cents a year earlier.