Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd. said its fourth-quarter normalized net income came to 22 Malaysian sen per share, a decrease of 32.1% from 32 sen per share in the year-earlier period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 50.6 million ringgits, a decline of 32.1% from 74.4 million ringgits in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin declined to 4.0% from 6.2% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue increased on an annual basis to 1.25 billion ringgits from 1.20 billion ringgits, and total operating expenses grew 8.4% from the prior-year period to 1.16 billion ringgits from 1.07 billion ringgits.

Reported net income fell 32.9% from the prior-year period to 66.9 million ringgits, or 29 sen per share, from 99.8 million ringgits, or 43 sen per share.

For the year, the company's normalized net income totaled 2.04 ringgits per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate of 2.93 ringgits.

EPS rose 5.2% from 1.94 ringgits in the prior year.

Normalized net income was 478.7 million ringgits, a rise of 5.2% from 455.1 million ringgits in the prior year.

Full-year total revenue increased on an annual basis to 5.06 billion ringgits from 4.84 billion ringgits, and total operating expenses increased year over year to 4.27 billion ringgits from 4.08 billion ringgits.

The company said reported net income increased 7.9% year over year to 637.1 million ringgits, or 2.72 ringgits per share, in the full year, from 590.7 million ringgits, or 2.52 ringgits per share.

As of March 29, US$1 was equivalent to 4.42 ringgits.