Wockhardt Q4 net plunges 54% to Rs 34 cr

Company's US business, which contributed 27% of the company's global revenues in the fourth quarter, declined 21%

Drug firm Wockhardt on Thursday reported a 54 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 34 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, weighed by a fall in its US business.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 74 crore a year ago.

Net sales rose to Rs 1,079 crore compared with Rs 1,038.7 crore during the same period a year ago, Wockhardt said in a filing to the BSE.

The Mumbai-based company said its US business, which made up 27 per cent of the company's global revenues in the fourth quarter, declined 21 per cent.

For the full year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 405 crore as against Rs 840.7 crore in the previous year.

Net sales of the company declined to Rs 4,400 crore during the year compared with Rs 4,830 crore a year ago.

The company's US business declined by 49 per cent during the 2014-15 fiscal, it said.

In April this year, Wockhardt had recalled 13 drugs in the US -- manufactured at its two units at Chikalthana and Waluj in Maharashtra -- which were under import restrictions from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The company's Waluj facility, which makes injectables and solid dosages, was put under import restrictions by the USFDA in 2013.

The Board of the company, which met today, recommended a dividend of 0.01 per cent, Rs 0.0005 per preference share of Rs 5 each.

Wockhardt shares ended at Rs 1,434.90 apiece on the BSE, down 8.90 per cent from the previous close.