Western Australia mining firm Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG) reported on Thursday that its full year net profit for fiscal 2010 reached $US581 million or $A657, registering a 14 percent spike from the $508 million the company previously posted in the 2009 financial year.

FMG chief executive Andrew Forrest hailed the results as "a turning point for Fortescue as the company delivers strong cashflow after years of project development," adding that further production and price increases were delivering substantial revenues and improving the company's cash balances.

As Fortescue elected to reflect its figures in US dollars, the company also gained some $US99 million on its net profit results due to the foreign exchange values currently in effect.

The company added that its underlying earnings before tax, interest and depreciation went up by 129 percent to $US1.288 billion while its cashflow surged by 134 percent to $US1.107 billion, owing to its iron ore shipments increase of 44 percent to 40.1 million tonnes throughout the year.

FMG chief financial officer Stephen Pearce noted that the modest results were indicative of the company potential growth as he stressed that "with strong operating margins and growing cash balances, Fortescue is developing a major platform for growth."

Also, the company gained iron ore price increases of 17 percent as pricing shifted to index-based price in the last quarter when an earlier price deal with Chinese customers had expired.

As of 1157 AEST on Thursday, Fortescue shares were trading at $4.47, collecting three percent increase on its value from previous trading sessions.