UPDATE 1-Mail.ru 2010 profit up 63 pct, outlook positive

MOSCOW, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russian Internet investment firm Mail.ru said fast-growing Internet penetration and online advertising in Russia made it confident for future growth as it posted a 63 percent rise in 2010 profit.

The company, which owns 2.38 percent of $50 billion-rated social networking site Facebook, said on Thursday its 2010 net income came in at $76.7 million, on revenue up 64 percent at $324 million.

'Mail.ru Group is well positioned to continue benefiting from the growth in Internet penetration, online advertising in the Russian market in 2011 and beyond,' Chief Executive Dmitry Grishin said in a statement.

'As such, we are comfortable with 2011 consolidated revenue growth rates within the range of current analyst expectations,' he added, without elaborating.

The figures were Mail.ru's maiden results as a public company after a $1 billion London stock market float late last year.

The shares soared 30 percent on their opening day but have traded broadly flat since then.

(Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by Will Waterman) Keywords: MAIL.RU/ ([e-mail]; [phone] Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.