KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 30): Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd's shares came down by as much as 51 sen or 11% after the group reported a 97% fall in its fourth-quarter net profit.

The counter was trading at RM4.27 as at 4.10pm, down 35 sen or 7.58%.

The group posted a net profit of RM10.13 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, down 97.3% from RM378.15 million a year ago.

Quarterly revenue was up 10.4% to RM2.34 billion from RM2.12 billion previously.

Cumulative profit for the full year fell 26.1% to RM786.23 million from RM1.06 billion in the previous year, with revenue rising 18.15% to RM9.24 billion from RM7.82 billion.

The group attributed the lower earnings to margin squeezes resulting from high feed stocks combined with a fall in product prices.

The group noted that as a consequence of US-China trade hostilities, a provision for the write down of inventory costing a net realisable value of RM45.8 million was made.

"Other factors contributing to the loss before tax includes foreign exchange loss of RM3.0 million, share of loss from associates of RM19.0 million which is mainly due to loss on fair value changes in interest rate swap entered by Lotte Chemical USA Corporation," the group said.