Wockhardt slumps nearly 10% in two days

Wockhardt hit a lower circuit limit of 5% at Rs 474.35 at 13:13 IST on BSE, extending Monday's 5% fall triggered by the UK drug regulator withdrawing its quality certification to the company's Chikalthana factory in Maharashtra.

The company made the announcement on Saturday, 12 October 2013. The stock fell 5% to Rs 499.30 on Monday, 14 October 2013. The stock has fallen 9.74% in two sessions from Rs 525.55 on Friday, 11 October 2013.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 7.79 points, or 0.04%, to 20,599.75.

On BSE, 22,000 shares were traded in the counter compared with average volume of 2.87 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock opened with a downward gap, slumping by the maximum 5% daily circuit and remained locked at the 5% level at Rs 474.35 so far in the day.

The stock hit a record high of Rs 2,166.05 on 12 March 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 344.15 on 8 August 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 14 October 2013, sliding 23.99% compared with the Sensex's 4.43% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 47.75% as against Sensex's 3.25% rise.

The mid-cap drug maker has an equity capital of Rs 54.88 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Wockhardt informed that UK's health regulator -- the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) -- has withdrawn the good manufacturing certification of the company's Chikalthana facility at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The company can, however, continue exporting some critical drugs to the UK as the MHRA will issue a restricted good manufacturing practice (GMP) certificate to the plant to avoid a shortage of medically essential products supplied by Wockhardt.

Wockhardt said that the impact on the existing business will be known once the company receives further communication from the MHRA.

The Chikalthana facility contributes approximately 12 million pounds from the UK and the European Union (EU) markets to the consolidated annual revenues of the company, Wockhardt said.

On a consolidated basis, Wockhardt's net profit fell 14.5% to Rs 323.31 crore on 1.3% growth in net sales to Rs 1358.37 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012.

Wockhardt is a high-technology intensive global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with multi-disciplinary and innovative R&D programmes. It has three research centres globally and manufacturing facilities across India, USA, UK and Ireland. The company has a significant presence in USA, Europe and India.

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