Wei Chuan Foods Corp. said its normalized net income for the first quarter amounted to a loss of 35 Taiwan cents per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of a loss of 2 cents per share.

The per-share result swung to a loss from the prior-year profit of 47 cents.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was a loss of NT$177.3 million, compared with income of NT$235.9 million in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin fell to negative 3.5% from 3.6% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue decreased 28.3% year over year to NT$4.74 billion from NT$6.61 billion, and total operating expenses fell 18.8% on an annual basis to NT$5.05 billion from NT$6.22 billion.

Reported net income came to a loss of NT$293.4 million, or a loss of 58 cents per share, compared to income of NT$254.5 million, or 50 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

As of May 15, US$1 was equivalent to NT$30.44.