Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd. said its normalized net income for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 came to 17 Malaysian sen per share, an increase of 59.8% from 11 sen per share in the prior-year period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 10.3 million ringgits, a gain of 59.8% from 6.4 million ringgits in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin rose to 10.9% from 7.3% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue increased 6.2% year over year to 94.0 million ringgits from 88.5 million ringgits, and total operating expenses totaled 79.8 million ringgits, compared with 79.3 million ringgits in the prior-year period.

Reported net income rose 62.5% year over year to 12.4 million ringgits, or 20 sen per share, from 7.6 million ringgits, or 13 sen per share.

As of Nov. 25, US$1 was equivalent to 4.21 ringgits.