(Yicai Global) March 18 -- China's Gree Electric Appliances plans to start investing in medical equipment after sales of its home appliances tallied little more than nothing in February, according to Chairwoman Dong Mingzhu.

The Zhuhai-based firm will invest another CNY1 billion (USD143 million) to start developing and making high-end medical gear, Dong said in a briefing streamed online yesterday.

Gree's first-quarter revenue has surpassed at least CNY25 billion (USD3.6 billion) in the past four years, so Dong, widely hailed as China's very own 'Iron Lady,' will need to brace for a huge decline during the same period this year. She attributed the plummet in sales to the closure of shopping malls, prohibition of on-site installations and isolation amid the Covid-19 pandemic, describing it as a temporary setback.

Shares in the firm [SHE:0006651] slid 2.67 percent to CNY52.95 (USD7.55) yesterday, before the virtual conference, but had rebounded by to CNY53.81, up 1.62 percent, as of 10.34 a.m. today.

The company already set up Zhuhai Gejian Medical Technology with CNY20 million on Feb. 18 to design and produce protective supplies for medical personnel and equipment for ultraviolet disinfection, physiological parameter analysis and controlling infections in operating rooms. Gree also began making single-use KN95 and medical masks on March 9, and the 21st Century Business Herald cited an executive as saying it is making thermometers and goggles, too.

Editor: James Boynton