TORONTO -- Shares of Spin Master Corp. plunged nearly 40 per cent Thursday after the toy maker reported a loss in its latest quarter and warned it expected its gross product sales to decline this year.

The company says it is monitoring the situation around the COVID-19 virus closely, as about 60 per cent of its goods are produced in China and it is not yet able to produce at full capacity.

In its outlook, Spin Master says it expects a decline in gross product sales for 2020 toward the higher end of the mid-single digit range, due in part to supply chain and other disruptions resulting from the new coronavirus outbreak.

The Toronto-based toy company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says it lost US$17.2 million or 17 cents per diluted share for the three months ending Dec. 31, compared with a profit of US$11.4 million or 11 cents per diluted share a year earlier. The adjusted loss was US$7.8 million or eight cents per diluted share, compared with an adjusted profit of US$6.2 million or six cents per diluted share in the prior year.

Analysts had expected an adjusted net loss of 12 cents per diluted share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

  • Watch a special broadcast ‘Coronavirus: Facts vs. Fears’ LIVE Thursday at 7 p.m. EST on CTV News Channel

Spin Master shares closed down $11.53, or 39.34 per cent, at $17.78 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2020.