(Yicai) Dec. 6 -- Shares of Wuxi Biologics stabilized after the Chinese operator of a drug development platform said it will move ahead with a plan to buy back more than USD600 million of shares from the market.

Wuxi Biologics [HKG: 2269] rose by 1.2 percent to HKD30.70 (USD3.90) today after slumping over 30 percent in the previous two trading days due to a warning of lower-than-expected revenue this year.

The contract research development and manufacturing organization will implement the stock repurchase program of up to 425 million units, or as much as 10 percent of all, but the date is not yet decided, the Jiangsu province-based firm announced in a filing late yesterday. The program was already approved by a shareholder meeting on June 27.

The stock sell-off began after the company announced on Dec. 4 that this year, revenue will grow slower than the goal of 30 percent set early this year due to a quick decline in Covid-19-related revenue.

The current prices of shares do not reflect the intrinsic value of the firm's actual prospects, Wuxi Biologics explained, adding that it is full of confidence about its business development.

Wuxi Biologics had over CNY7.3 billion (USD1 billion) of cash in its bank accounts as of June 30, and the repurchase scheme equals about 60 percent of the balance so the firm has enough financial resources to kick off the share buyback, it noted.

From 2017 to 2022, Wuxi Biologics recorded annual revenue growth between 41 percent and 83 percent, according to Wind data. In the first six months of this year, revenue rose by 18 percent to CNY8.5 billion from a year ago.

Editor: Emmi Laine