An 18% fall in quarterly net profit was recently posted by IOI Corp, Malaysia's second-largest palm oil producer, the blame of which goes to lower palm oil prices and an impairment charge on a property project. The company reported a fall in Q4 net profit to 487.1 million ringgit, from 597.3 million ringgit a year ago.

The Q4 saw IOI Corp said writing down the value of a Singapore property development by 242.8 million ringgit ($68.86 million). A fall by 27% was seen in average crude palm oil price realized in the quarter from a year ago to 2,455 ringgit a ton.

Full-year net profit, which was lower than the 1.3 billion ringgit consensus estimate as per Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, sank 56 percent to 983.5 million ringgit.

The company specified that the outlook for fiscal 2010 was tied to the global economic recovery. It is also considering a capital-raising of up to 1.22 billion ringgit via a rights offering this year.

The company said: "If the economy and business conditions show an improvement in 2010 as is widely expected, the group is optimistic that it will perform better in the new financial year."