DUBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Kuwait Food Co FOOD.KW , which sells goods under the Americana brand name, reported a 10.4 percent increase in first-quarter net profit on Sunday.

The company made 18.1 million dinars ($64.4 million) in the first three months of 2014, up from 16.4 million dinars in the corresponding period of 2013, it said in a bourse filing.

Americana, 66.8 percent owned by the Kharafi family, one of the largest merchant families in the Gulf Arab state, could be sold after the Kharafis hired investment bank Rothschild to explore a sale, sources told Reuters last month. ID:nL5N0MU4FI

The chairman of Americana, Marzouk al-Kharafi, later said he wasn't aware of any sale process by the majority shareholder.

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Founded in 1964 in Kuwait, Americana is a publicly traded group of companies based in the Middle East and North Africa, with interests in restaurants and packaged food.

The company is a franchise operator of restaurants including KFC and Pizza Hut, owned by Yum Brands YUM.N , and Red Lobster and Olive Garden, owned by Darden Restaurants DRI.N . Americana also manufactures California Garden beans and Farm Frites frozen vegetables. ($1 = 0.2813 Kuwaiti Dinars)

(Reporting by David French; Editing by Matt Smith)

((davidj.french@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 4 362 5864)(Reuters Messaging: davidj.french.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: AMERICANA RESULTS