Wockhardt Q1 profit sinks 83% on weak EBITDA; US, EM biz dip 16%

Emerging market business registered a 16 percent degrowth; and Irish 18 percent fall in rupee terms during the quarter.

The company's UK business (excluding one-time opportunity) grew by 26 percent in Q1 on yearly basis while India business increased by 10 percent on account of continued new products launches and focussed strategies on various therapies, it said.

Wockhardt launched 11 new products in India during the quarter and made 3 new filings & got 1 approval in the UK market.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) slipped 48.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 85.2 crore and margin contracted by 670 basis points to 7.8 percent in the quarter ended June 2016.

The company had a forex loss of Rs 9.9 crore for the quarter against forex gain of Rs 15 crore in year-ago period. Tax credit for the quarter stood at Rs 9.4 crore against tax expenses of Rs 31 crore in same period last year.

Other income jumped sharply to Rs 16.9 crore from Rs 6.4 crore while finance cost more than doubled to Rs 48.6 crore from Rs 23.88 crore on year-on-year basis.

The company said it had initiated required steps to address the concerns raised by USFDA. It received establishment inspection report from USFDA with observations for three units in Maharashtra and import alert for active pharmaceutical ingredients located in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.