Canadian meat packaging company Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO) reported a smaller-than-expected profit on Wednesday and also said it would allow its biggest shareholder to take a bigger stake in the company.

The company said Chief Executive Michael McCain and an organization affiliated to him could now bump up their stake to as much as 45 per cent in Maple Leaf.

An agreement adopted in 2011 had allowed McCain to take a stake of a 31.9 per cent stake in the company, making him its biggest shareholder.

The amendment agreement also prevents McCain from selling shares to any investor who would, after the purchase, hold a stake of more than 20 per cent in Maple Leaf, the company said.

Maple Leaf, whose brands include Schneiders, raised its quarterly dividend by 2 cents per share to 11 cents per share.

The company's net earnings more than doubled to $76.2 million, or 56 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $33.3 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier.

Adjusted operating earnings in the meat products business, the company's primary source of income, rose about 35 per cent to $73.5 million due to lower operating costs.

Maple Leaf recently completed a program, started in 2010, to boost earnings by shutting some plants and modernizing others.

"MFI now has the right manufacturing footprint and strategy to continue to sustain double-digit profitability," RBC Capital Markets analyst Martin Gravel said in a note.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf earned 31 cents per share, missing analysts average estimate of 33 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Total sales for Canada's biggest pork processor fell about 5 per cent to $828.2 million, below analysts' average estimate of $860.5 million.

Excluding the contribution of the 53rd week in 2015, sales increased by about 2 per cent.

The company results come a day after it said it would buy U.S.-based Lightlife Foods Inc, a manufacturer of plant-based protein foods, for US$140 million and related costs.

Maple Leaf's shares were up 0.5 per cent at $29.99 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.