By Yifan WangSinopharm Group Co.'s net profit for the first half declined 2.7% from a year earlier as higher cost of sales dragged on profitability. The drug seller posted net profit of 2.90 billion yuan ($419.1 million) for the period. Revenue rose 1.0% to CNY203.76 billion, thanks to the resilient sales growth of its pharmaceutical retail and medical-device businesses, which offset lower revenue from its drug-distribution operations. A higher cost-to-sales ratio pressured profitability and Sinopharm's gross profit margin slipped 0.21 percentage point to 8.46%. Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com(END) Dow Jones NewswiresAugust 23, 2020 20:25 ET (00:25 GMT)Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 24, 2020 00:22 UTC