Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd. said its first-quarter normalized net income amounted to 74 Malaysian sen per share, a gain of 12.9% from 65 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 172.4 million ringgits, an increase of 12.9% from 152.7 million ringgits in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin climbed to 13.1% from 11.9% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue grew year over year to 1.31 billion ringgits from 1.28 billion ringgits, and total operating expenses came to 1.03 billion ringgits, compared with 1.03 billion ringgits in the year-earlier period.

Reported net income rose 17.5% year over year to 220.7 million ringgits, or 94 sen per share, from 187.9 million ringgits, or 80 sen per share.

As of April 26, US$1 was equivalent to 3.91 ringgits.