WuXi AppTec (HKG:2359, SHA:603259) reported a 53% year-on-year increase in its third-quarter attributable profit to 3.51 billion yuan, according to a Hong Kong bourse filing Sunday.

Shares of the drug research company gained nearly 7% in morning trade Monday.

Earnings per share rose 55% year-on-year to 1.22 yuan. Analysts at Visible Alpha estimated EPS to be at 1.16 yuan.

Revenue increased 15% from the prior year to 12.06 billion yuan, figures showed. Visible Alpha analysts projected a revenue of 10.35 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the firm agreed to sell its WuXi Clinical Development Services (Shanghai) and WuXi MedKey Med-Tech Development (Shanghai) units to asset manager Hillhouse Investment Management.

The sale aims to help the company focus on its core contract research, development, and manufacturing business, WuXi AppTec said.

The units generated 1.16 billion yuan in revenue during the first three quarters of the year and contributed 90 million yuan in profit during the period, representing 3.5% and 0.7% of the company's total.

WuXi did not disclose the financial terms of the sale.