Lay Hong Bhd. said its normalized net income for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 came to 4.7 million ringgits, a rise of 5.6% from 4.4 million ringgits in the prior-year period.

Normalized net income excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis.

The normalized profit margin dropped to 2.7% from 3.0% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue rose 15.8% year over year to 171.5 million ringgits from 148.1 million ringgits, and total operating expenses rose 15.7% year over year to 161.4 million ringgits from 139.6 million ringgits.

Reported net income declined 11.8% on an annual basis to 4.5 million ringgits, or 1 sen per share, from 5.1 million ringgits, or 1 sen per share.

For the year, the company's normalized net income totaled 3 sen per share, an increase from 1 sen per share in the prior year.

Normalized net income was 16.3 million ringgits, an increase from 6.3 million ringgits in the prior year.

Full-year total revenue increased 16.0% from the prior-year period to 671.7 million ringgits from 579.2 million ringgits, and total operating expenses increased 13.2% year over year to 635.6 million ringgits from 561.4 million ringgits.

The company said reported net income increased year over year to 18.6 million ringgits, or 4 sen per share, in the full year, from 7.2 million ringgits, or 1 sen per share.

As of July 20, US$1 was equivalent to 3.81 ringgits.