KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Ann Joo Resources Bhd's shares fell 3.95% this morning after its net profit declined 40.5% in its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18) to RM33.02 million, from RM55.53 million in the year-ago quarter, due to squeezed margins and the write down of inventories.

At 9.08am, Ann Joo fell 6 sen to RM1.46 with 212,600 shares traded.

This was in spite of a 10.7% quarterly revenue growth to RM675.73 million from RM610.15 million a year ago, which was helped by higher export tonnage, despite lower selling price depressed by stiff competition in the domestic market.

The group declared a second interim dividend of six sen per share in respect of FY18, payable on May 24.

For FY18, Ann Joo’s net profit was 27.2% lower at RM149.54 million from RM205.38 million in FY17; while revenue grew 5.8% to RM2.32 billion compared with RM2.2 billion in FY17, in line with international trends, and higher export tonnage in 4QFY18.

Ann Joo said its performance for the year ahead will be heavily dependent on the pace of the rectification of the domestic oversupply situation.