(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Yanker Shop Food’s shares plummeted by the exchange-imposed limit of 10 percent for the fourth consecutive trading day today, wiping nearly a third off its market capitalization, despite executives at the Chinese snack retailer announcing yesterday that they would purchase CNY50 million (USD7.7 million) worth of shares to help shore up the stock price after issuing a profit warning last week.

Yanker’s share price [SHE:002847] was trading down 9.82 percent at CNY62.89 (USD9.69) at 1:30 p.m. China time today, giving it a market valuation of just CNY8.3 billion (USD1.3 billion) from CNY12.3 billion on July 14. Earlier in the day it had fallen to CNY62.76.

Over the next six months, top executives and senior management will invest no less than CNY50 million to increase their shareholdings, the Changsha, central Hunan province-based company said. Two brothers, Zhang Xuewu and Zhang Xuewen, are the two biggest shareholders in the firm with 47.78 percent and 16.18 percent equity respectively. Zhang Xuewu will purchase CNY25 million worth of shares and Zhang Xuewen CNY15 million, it added.

Poor sales in the first half have seen the candied fruit, nut and soy product maker’s stock price crater since July 15 when it warned that net profit could drop by as much as 65 percent in the first half from the same period last year to CNY45 million (USD7 million), largely due to intense competition from e-retail channels. Last year, only 5.6 percent of Yanker’s sales came from e-commerce, a third was from direct sales and the rest was through distributors.

Editor: Kim Taylor