Strauss Group Ltd. said its normalized net income for the first quarter was 71 agorot per share, an increase of 25.8% from 56 agorot per share in the prior-year period.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 80.8 million shekels, a gain of 33.7% from 60.4 million shekels in the prior-year period.

The normalized profit margin increased to 6.1% from 4.6% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue came to 1.32 billion shekels, compared with 1.31 billion shekels in the year-earlier period, and total operating expenses fell on an annual basis to 1.17 billion shekels from 1.22 billion shekels.

Reported net income rose 44.4% year over year to 104.0 million shekels, or 91 agorot per share, from 72.0 million shekels, or 67 agorot per share.

As of May 23, US$1 was equivalent to 3.87 shekels.