Facebook’s share price surged by more than 12% and close to $106 per share in after-hours trading in New York last night, as it announced higher than expected final quarter revenues and profits and more significantly, very strong growth in mobile advertising revenue across its stable of mobile apps.

Revenues in the final quarter rose by more than 50% to $5.8bn compared to the same period in 2014. Overall profits for the year amounted to $3.7bn on revenues of close to $18bn. Net profits rose to €1.4bn

Critically, Facebook’s advertising revenues rose by an even faster 57% and would have been higher but for the strength of the dollar.

Mobile advertising from its main app, and its Messenger and Instagram applications now account for about 80% of all Facebook's income

Investment spending is likely to rise to about $4.5bn in the current year as Facebook continues to roll out the network of global data centres, including the recently-announced facility in Meath, to support the near 1bn customers who check its flagship app every day.

The key monthly active users metric rose by 14% to 1.59 billion users.

"2015 was a great year for Facebook. Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.

He continued, "We continue to invest in better serving our community, building our business, and connecting the world."