Agalawatte Plantations PLC said its fourth-quarter normalized net income came to 8 Sri Lankan cents per share, compared with a loss of 2.64 rupees per share in the year-earlier period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 2.1 million rupees, compared with a loss of 66.0 million rupees in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin climbed to 0.5% from negative 14.3% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue fell 7.4% year over year to 428.2 million rupees from 462.6 million rupees, and total operating expenses fell 32.1% from the prior-year period to 358.5 million rupees from 527.9 million rupees.

Reported net income totaled 98.4 million rupees, or 3.94 rupees per share, compared to a loss of 46.9 million rupees, or a loss of 1.88 rupees per share, in the year-earlier period.

For the year, the company's normalized net income totaled a loss of 12.29 rupees per share, compared with a loss of 22.35 rupees per share in the prior year.

Normalized net income was a loss of 307.1 million rupees, compared with a loss of 558.8 million rupees in the prior year.

Full-year total revenue declined 16.2% year over year to 1.83 billion rupees from 2.18 billion rupees, and total operating expenses declined 24.7% on an annual basis to 2.14 billion rupees from 2.84 billion rupees.

The company said reported net income came to a loss of 405.2 million rupees, or a loss of 16.21 rupees per share, in the full year, compared with a loss of 829.5 million rupees, or a loss of 33.18 rupees per share, the prior year.

As of March 2, US$1 was equivalent to 144.61 Sri Lankan rupees.