(Yicai Global) Oct. 27 -- Sino Biological’s shares fell to the lowest since the Chinese biotech firm’s first day of trading two months ago after it reported a slump in third-quarter earnings.

Sino Biological [SHE:301047] fell 12 percent today to close at CNY350 (USD54.75) on Shenzhen’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext board.

The Beijing-based company’s initial public offering was priced at CNY292.92 a share, the highest ever of any listing in the Chinese mainland. The stock soared to CNY699.38 shortly after debuting on Aug. 16, thanks partly to a big Covid-19-related sales boost.

Founded in 2007, Sino Biological sells recombinant proteins, vaccines, antibodies, and rapid diagnosis technology. It also offers pre-clinical production services for pharmaceutical firms.

The company’s net profit skyrocketed 31 times last year to CNY1.1 billion (USD172 million) on a nine-fold increase in revenue to CNY1.6 billion. Pandemic-related products contributed 84 percent of the revenue, its IPO prospectus showed.

But in the third quarter this year, income slumped 68.9 percent to CNY178 million (USD27.8 million) from a year ago, and net profit skid 73 percent to CNY114 million, according to the earnings report Sino Biological published late yesterday.

Sino Biological’s previous earnings report showed that first-half revenue totaled CNY635 million, up 28 percent from the same period last year. But income and profit for the first three quarters have shrunk 23.9 and 25.9 percent, respectively.

Sino Biological did not explain the third-quarter slump, but said there had been yearly rises in the company’s management fees and and spending on research and development of 30.6 percent and 84 percent to CNY41.63 million (USD6.5 million) and CNY32.1 million, respectively.

Editor: Tom Litting