(Yicai Global) Aug. 21 -- Tellgen’s share price shot up by the exchange-imposed daily limit of 10 percent today on the news that Swiss bank UBS has increased its stake in the Chinese biotech firm to over 5 percent.

The Shanghai-based firm’s stock price [SHE:300642] reached CNY56.52 (USD8.20).

UBS raised its stake in Tellgen to 4.6 million shares from 4.4 million on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, bringing its total share capital to 5.06 percent, Tellgen said yesterday.

This is the first time that the general public has learnt that the Swiss lender is a major shareholder in Tellgen as listed firms are only obliged to disclose changes in a shareholder’s ratio should it own more than 5 percent equity, according to Shanghai Stock Exchange regulations.

The change in equity holdings is part of the Zurich-based bank’s investment plan and the possibility of a further change over the next 12 months cannot be ruled out, Tellgen said.

Tellgen, which produces a range of in vitro diagnostic devices for the detection of tumors, has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first quarter it posted losses of CNY19.1 million (USD2.8 million) as the lockdowns caused distributors to cease work for some time and the number of end users fell. Revenue tanked 57 percent to CNY2.9 million.

This is a marked downturn from last year when the firm posted a 10.82 percent gain in net profit from a year earlier to CNY157 million (USD22.73 million). That year it raked in revenue of CNY441 million (USD63.8 million), up 21 percent from the previous year.

The company has started to export some medical materials connected to the novel coronavirus test but has not yet received regulatory approval to produce a full detection kit.

Editor: Kim Taylor