(Yicai) Dec. 4 -- Shares of Wuxi Biologics tanked after one of China’s largest biotech companies said that revenue could fall short of expectations this year amid waning sales of Covid-19-related products.

Wuxi Biologics dropped by 23.8 percent to HKD33.15 (USD4.20) this morning until the stock halted trading at 10.49 a.m. in anticipation of new information disclosure.

Revenue growth this year could be lower than the expected 30 percent boost modeled on a predicted 15-percent expansion of the industry, given the rapid decline in revenue linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Shanghai-based biotech firm announced this morning on its website. The document has since been removed.

Decreases in the two business segments of drug development and drug manufacturing are the main factors behind the worse-than-expected results, per the document.

Wuxi Biologics mentioned its performance pressures already in June during an investor day. In the first half, the firm signed 25 new projects, fewer than the expected 40 to 50 projects in previous years, it said. The company’s stock price closed down 17 percent that day.

Last year, Wuxi Biologics achieved a 48 percent increase in revenue to CNY15.3 billion (USD2.1 billion) from a year ago as its net profit surged by 31 percent to CNY4.4 billion (USD616.5 million). In the first half, revenue rose more modestly by 18 percent to CNY8.5 billion (USD1.2 billion) from a year earlier while net profit dropped by 11 percent to CNY2.3 billion.

Editor: Emmi Laine