SINGAPORE - Construction company ISOTeam has sunk into the red with a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.99 million for the three months ended June 30, compared to a net profit of $1.38 million a year earlier. This came on the back of rising expenses and a drop in revenue.

Loss per share stood at 0.7 cent for the quarter, versus an earnings per share of 0.48 cent for the year-ago period.

A final dividend of 0.18 cent per share has been proposed, subject to approval by shareholders at an upcoming annual general meeting. For fiscal 2017, a final tax-exempt dividend of 0.65 cent was declared.

Revenue for the quarter fell 6.8 per cent to $20.2 million, mainly due to lower contributions from its repairs and redecoration, and coating and painting business segments, which were partially offset by an increase in revenue from its addition and alteration operations.

In addition, marketing and distribution expenses rose 73.9 per cent to $659,000, mainly due to an increase in business entities arising from the acquisition of a subsidiary, and the incorporation of new subsidiaries, the company said.

For the full year, net profit fell 70.7 per cent to $1.89 million, from $6.45 million last year.

On a per share basis, earnings for the 12 months ended June 30 came in at 0.66 cent, down from 2.27 cent.

Among other things, the group's bottom line was impacted by lower margin from projects, and lower other income that was mainly due to a reduction in suppliers' rebate, and a smaller gain on the disposal of property, plant and equipment, ISOTeam said.

Looking ahead, while market conditions remain challenging, the group noted that it has a strong order book of $126.3 million as at Aug 10, which will be progressively delivered over the next two years.

As at 9.05am on Monday, shares in ISOTeam were trading at 31.5 cents apiece, down 4.5 per cent.