Zambia Sugar PLC said its normalized net income for the fiscal second half ended March 31 was 17 ngwee per share, a gain of 5.2% from 16 ngwee per share in the prior-year period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 54.8 million kwachas, an increase of 5.2% from 52.1 million kwachas in the prior-year period.

Total revenue rose 9.2% year over year to 941.3 million kwachas from 862.2 million kwachas, and total operating expenses grew 8.1% year over year to 760.5 million kwachas from 703.2 million kwachas.

Reported net income grew 37.9% on an annual basis to 79.5 million kwachas, or 25 ngwee per share, from 57.6 million kwachas, or 18 ngwee per share.

For the year, the company's normalized net income totaled 31 ngwee per share, compared with 31 ngwee per share in the prior year.

Normalized net income was 99.2 million kwachas, compared with 98.6 million kwachas in the prior year.

Full-year total revenue increased 7.3% year over year to 1.91 billion kwachas from 1.78 billion kwachas, and total operating expenses rose 6.9% on an annual basis to 1.58 billion kwachas from 1.48 billion kwachas.

The company said reported net income increased 14.2% year over year to 141.3 million kwachas, or 45 ngwee per share, in the full year, from 123.7 million kwachas, or 39 ngwee per share.

As of Aug. 5, US$1 was equivalent to 7.84 Zambian kwachas.