Wockhardt Q3 net down 29% at Rs304 crore

Wockhardt Ltd has reported a 29 per cent drop in quarterly net profit, at Rs304 crore, against a net profit of Rs428 crore in the year-ago quarter.

At Rs304 crore, net profit for the quarter represented 24.6 per cent of quarterly net sales, the company said in a release.

Total sales dropped 14 per cent to Rs1,237 crore on the back of a fall in sales after the US health regulator banned two of its plants from exporting products to the US, its largest market.

The company's US business, which accounts for 44 per cent of revenue, fell 30 per cent in the quarter.

In November, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert, effectively banning Wockhardt's Chikalthana plant from exporting its products to the US. The FDA had imposed a ban on the company's Waluj plant in May.

Wockhardt's consolidated after-tax profit for the nine months ended 31 December 2013 stood at Rs766 while revenue for the April-December 2013 period stood at Rs3,792 crore, which represents a 20.2 per cent PAT margin.

During the nine-month period, Wockhardt said the company spent Rs302 crore in research and related capital investment.

Wockhardt sid it had filed seven new product applications with USFDA during the nine months, taking cumulative filings pending approval to 53.

Wockhardt launched four new products in the UK market and one new product in the Irish market during the period.

Wockhardt also launched 2 new products in the domestic market in Q3FY14 and 16 new products for the nine months ended 31 December 2013.

Wockhardt's international business contributed 79 per cent of the total revenues during the quarter, although its US business declined by 30 per cent in Q3FY14 and by 14 per cent in the nine months ended 31 December 2013.

It contributed 44 per cent of the company's revenues in Q3FY14 and 47 per cent of the revenues for the first nine months of the financial year.