Drug services giant WuXi AppTec Co. Ltd. (2359.HK; 603259.SH) still faces a threatened ban on doing work for U.S. federal agencies, and its Covid-related business has taken a dive. Profits and revenues are both down, and price pressures are mounting.

This hardly seems like a formula for a share price rally. But investors saw enough positives in WuXi AppTec’s half-year earnings report last week to administer some pain relief to the company’s battered stock.

The provider of outsourced drug services to the global pharmaceutical sector logged revenue of 17.24 billion yuan ($2.38 billion) in the first six months of the year, 8.6% less than in the same period a year earlier, while net profit sank just over 20% to 4.24 billion yuan. It marked the first time in five years that the top and bottom lines both fell. Still, using other measures the figures look a bit healthier. Excluding projects related to the Covid pandemic, revenues slipped just 0.7%, while net profit on an adjusted basis fell around 14% to 4.37 billion yuan.