(REUTERS) -- Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's mining company Frisco said on Monday its fourth-quarter net profit had nearly quintupled from a year earlier.

Frisco reported a profit of 712.3 million pesos ($51 million), up from 146.2 million pesos a year earlier.

The company, which focuses on gold and silver production, said revenue rose to 2.38 billion pesos from 1.80 billion pesos.

Slim, the world's richest man, controls a financial empire built on telecommunications companies that has expanded into retail, banking, construction, real estate and mining.

Frisco was spun off from Slim's Grupo Carso conglomerate early last year.

Frisco hedged most of its metal production through 2013 and 2014, but locked in prices below the rallying commodities markets, missing out on bigger profits. It later tweaked its hedging strategy.

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