(Yicai) March 18 -- WuXi AppTec's shares rose after the Chinese provider of research and development services to the pharmaceutical sector forecast annual revenue to return to double-digit growth this year after earnings fell last year.

WuXi AppTec [SHA: 603259] closed 8.8 percent higher at CNY69.68 (USD9.63) a share in Shanghai today, with the stock climbing 27 percent so far this year. Its Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 2359] added 10.5 percent to end at HKD72.35 (USD9.31), up 28 percent this year to date.

Excluding the impact of discontinued operations, revenue may increase by 10 percent to 15 percent to between CNY41.5 billion and CNY43 billion (USD5.7 billion and USD5.9 billion) in the 12 months ending Dec. 31, the Shanghai-based firm said in an earnings report released yesterday.

Discontinued operations refer to the company’s sale last December of its cell and gene therapy units -- Philadelphia-based WuXi Advanced Therapies and Oxford Genetics -- to US private equity firm Altaris. The company also disposed of its medical device testing business in the United States.

The signs of WuXi AppTec's performance rebound were evident last quarter, when net profit soared 91 percent from a year earlier to CNY2.9 billion (USD400.9 million), while revenue rose 7 percent to a record CNY11.5 billion.

For the whole of last year, profit dropped 12.5 percent to CNY9.4 billion on a 2.7 percent drop in revenue to CNY39.2 billion. Excluding the high base from Covid-19-related business the year before, revenue climbed 5.2 percent.

On the issue of the US Biosecure Act, which puts WuXi AppTec on a list of "biotechnology companies of concern,” the firm has not yet heard any proposals related to the legislation in the new session of the US Congress, executives said on its earnings conference call.

WuXi AppTec will closely monitor developments and continue to communicate with US policymakers, they added.

The bill aims to prohibit certain foreign biotech companies from getting US federal government contracts and prevent them from accessing health and genetic information on US citizens. Senator Gary C. Peters introduced the legislation in December 2023, and it gained bipartisan support from lawmakers in January last year.

Judging from WuXi AppTec's earnings, the bill has not yet had a significant impact on its performance. Income from US clients reached CNY25 billion (USD3.5 billion) last year, up 7.7 percent from the previous year after excluding the impact of Covid-19-related work.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev