(Yicai Global) March 17 -- Shares in Ofilm Group sank by the exchange-imposed limit of 10 percent today after the Chinese electronic component maker finally confirmed after months of speculation that it has been struck off US tech giant Apple’s supply chain.

Ofilm’s share price [SHE:002456] closed at CNY9.14 (USD1.41). The company has more than halved in value since one of its units was added to a US blacklist in July last year, restricting access to US-made goods and technologies.

A certain overseas customer, whose orders had accounted for nearly one quarter of Ofilm’s 2019 revenue, is terminating its purchasing relationship with Ofilm and existing business orders will not be renewed, the firm said yesterday.

While the client was not named, there have been reports circulating in the foreign media since September that California-based Apple had removed Ofilm from its supply chain. Ofilm refuted the reports at the time, but its subsequent actions point to the company, which used to supply Apple with touch products and camera modules, having no orders for this year.

In January, Shenzhen-based Ofilm announced that it would sell four subsidiaries, one of them being its compact camera module business unit, Guangzhou Delta Imaging Technology, and one of its biggest earners. This was snapped up the following month by Wingtech Technology, a leading Chinese smartphone contract manufacturer that is no doubt eyeing the Apple contract.

The loss of the client will affect around a third of the company’s assets, which have a value of CNY3.3 billion (USD500 million). The full impact on the firm’s operations and performance is still being determined, it added.

Last July, the US Department of Commerce put 11 Chinese companies, including Nanchang O-Film Tech, in which Ofilm owns 49 percent, on its list of entities subject to export controls.

Editor: Kim Taylor