Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd said its normalized net income for the first quarter amounted to 3 pesewas per share, an increase of 49.0% from 2 pesewas per share in the year-earlier period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 1.1 million cedis, a gain of 49.1% from 734,380 cedis in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin climbed to 6.4% from 5.8% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue rose 35.3% year over year to 17.0 million cedis from 12.6 million cedis, and total operating expenses rose 31.0% year over year to 15.2 million cedis from 11.6 million cedis.

Reported net income increased 58.5% from the prior-year period to 1.7 million cedis, or 5 pesewas per share, from 1.1 million cedis, or 3 pesewas per share.

As of April 27, US$1 was equivalent to 3.81 cedis.