Wockhardt Q1 net profit dips 94% to Rs 19.95 crore

Pharmaceuticals firm Wockhardt Ltd on Tuesday reported 93.82 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 19.95 crore (Rs 199.5 million) for the first quarter ended June 30 as import bans by US Food and Drug Administration continued to hit sales.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 323.31 crore (Rs 3.23 billion) in the same period last fiscal, Wockhardt Ltd said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Consolidated net sales during the period under review stood at Rs 991.19 crore (Rs 9.91 billion) as compared to Rs 1,358.37 crore (Rs 13.58 billion) in the year-ago quarter.

The company's Waluj plant was banned from exporting products to the US by USFDA during May 2013 as the US Food and Drug Administration had issued an import alert on it.

The company had said it would take an annual hit of $100 million due to the import alert.

In yet another blow to the drug maker, US health regulator had imposed restrictions on import of medicines produced at the company's Chikalthana plant at Aurangabad in Maharashtra in November 2013.

Shares of Wockhardt Ltd were trading 2.73 per cent down at Rs 686.30 per scrip during afternoon trade on the BSE.

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