The global financial crisis, which erupted in the final fortnight of the quarter, has started to take a toll on bottom lines.

As of Friday night, a total of 289 companies had reported their third quarter results for the period ended Sept30.

They chalked up combined profits of $6.396billion, down from the $7.233 billion made previously.

Of these, 17.6 per cent, or 51 companies, were in the red, compared with 82.4 per cent, or 238 firms which posted profits. This works out to one in almost five companies in the red.

A total of 114 companies managed to grow their profits from a year ago, while 112 saw their profits shrink.

A further 10 making up the 238 profitable companies had emerged out of the red, while two had no comparable results from the previous year.

Some major contributors to the slide included the banks, led by DBS Group Holdings, which saw net profit tumble 37.9per cent due to a sharp rise in allowances for bad loans - the group's worst quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2005.

At the other end of the spectrum, palm oil player Wilmar International topped corporate earnings rank in absolute terms with $689.18million in net profit, more than doubling the $278.68million it raked in last year.

Analysts warn that this grim set of results is only the tip of the iceberg and corporates must prepare themselves for much stiffer economic challenges in the year ahead, which will see more earnings downgrades for companies.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.