Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd. said its normalized net income for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 amounted to 14 Malaysian sen per share, a gain of 20.5% from 12 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 8.5 million ringgits, an increase of 20.5% from 7.1 million ringgits in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin increased to 8.9% from 8.2% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue increased 10.8% year over year to 95.5 million ringgits from 86.2 million ringgits, and total operating expenses increased 9.4% on an annual basis to 82.9 million ringgits from 75.8 million ringgits.

Reported net income increased 25.2% on an annual basis to 10.3 million ringgits, or 17 sen per share, from 8.2 million ringgits, or 14 sen per share.

As of Aug. 26, US$1 was equivalent to 4.25 ringgits.