By Yifan Wang

Sinopharm 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