(Yicai Global) April 11 -- Shares in Jinzi Ham plummeted today after the Chinese meatpacker said that the country’s securities regulator has started an investigation into the company for violations in information disclosure.

Jinzi Ham’s share price [SHE:002515] sank 9.94 percent to close at CNY4.26 (USD0.67) today. The stock has lost 30 percent of its value since January.

During a routine inspection on March 10, Jinzi Ham was found by the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau to have failed to disclose significant losses incurred in futures trading and to have submitted an inaccurate third-quarter financial report, the Jinhua, eastern Zhejiang province-based company said on March 10.

Former Chairman Shi Yanjun, ex-President and ex-Chief Financial Officer Wu Yuexiao and Wang Qihui, secretary of the board of directors at the time, are primarily responsible for the violations, the securities regulator said. Warning letters have been issued and the offenders have been blacklisted in the securities and futures market integrity files, it added.

Last year, Jinzi Ham logged a 27.7 percent slump in profit from the year before to CNY42.8 million (USD6.7 million), while revenue tanked 28.7 percent to CNY506 million (USD79.5 million). The drop in earnings was due to the falling price of pork, it said.

Editor: Kim Taylor