WELLINGTON, New Zealand--Infant formula firm a2 Milk Company Ltd. reported a drop in six-month earnings and lowered its full-year forecasts as the pandemic continued to slow sales via Chinese surrogate shoppers.

The New Zealand- and Australia-listed company on Thursday forecast a full-year profit margin of between 24% and 26% compared with a forecast of 26% to 29% in December.

It said full-year revenue would be in the order of 1.4 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.04 billion) compared with a range of NZ$1.4 billion to NZ$1.55 billion previously.

The pace of recovery has been "slower than previously anticipated," a2 Milk said. Its new forecasts assumes that quarterly growth improves significantly from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

The company's first-half profit was 35% lower at NZ$120 million.

Write to Stephen Wright at stephen.wright@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-24-21 1533ET