Intensifying competition in China's infant formula sector has weighed on profits at local producer Biostime International Holdings.
The Hong Kong-listed group saw net profit tumble by 34% to CNY205m in the six months to the end of June. Gross profit was down 15.1% at CNY1.14bn.
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Biostime's lower profits came on the back of a slide in sales. Revenue was down 10.3% at CNY1.96bn.
The company said more players had entered China's infant formula sector and companies already present and upped the level of promotions to try to maintain their market shares.
Biostime said it had managed to keep its sales volume "stable" and to "consolidate its market position".
Citing data from Nielsen, Biostime said its share of the overall infant formula market in China increased to 6.0% in the first half of this year from 5.8% in the same period last year.
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By GlobalDataIt said it continued to rank as the third largest player offline. Biostime's online market share increased to 1.3% in the first half of this year and therefore the Group became one of the top ten online players, driven by rapid growth of its Businessto-Customer ("B2C") online sales.
