Wockhardt Q4 profit down 78 per cent on import bans

Drugmaker Wockhardt has reported a 78 per cent slump in March-quarter profit, as it continues to reel under the US and UK import bans due to manufacturing quality lapses.

The company's January-March net profit fell to Rs 744.5 million ($12.76 million) compared with Rs 3.35 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected fourth-quarter profit of Rs 747 million, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Sales fell 30 per cent to Rs 10.4 billion in the quarter.

In November, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an import alert, effectively a ban, against Wockhardt's Chikalthana plant in western India. The FDA had imposed a ban on the company's Waluj plant in May.

The United States is Wockhardt's largest market.

(Reuters)