Chocolate maker Hershey Co. posted a net profit of 63 cents a share on Tuesday, beating market expectations of 60 cents per share.

Net income of the company, which decided to drop its Cadbury aspirations after Cadbury accepted Kraft Food Inc.'s $18.7 billion offer, rose 54 per cent to $126.8 million (55 cents a share) as compared to $82.2 million (36 cents per share) in the year-ago period, Hershey said in a statement. Sales went up 2.2 per cent to $1.41 billion.