Wockhardt profits decline

A company press release said that Wockhardt had maintained sales for the third quarter ended March 31, 1999 at Rs 97.4 crores compared with Rs 96.1 crore in spite of sluggish market conditions. Operating profits for the period went down marginally to Rs 15.9 crore from Rs 16.9 crore in the same period last year.

The higher depreciation and additional interest burden has pulled down net profits from Rs 15.4 crore to Rs 7.8 crore in the third quarter of the current year. Interest costs have been incurred largely for the Merind acquisition and for setting up of the new medical nutrition manufacturing facilities at Chandigarh, according to the company press release.

quot;The running expenditure for the Chandigarh plant has been absorbed in the period though the plant will be fully on stream by the end of the current calendar year,quot; it adds.

Wockhardt chairman H F Khorakiwala said: quot;The performance of the company was satisfactory in view of the depressed market conditions. The Wockhardt group has maintained its ORG ranking and market share for the period under the review. Key brands Spasmo Proxyvon, Proxyvon and Sparx grew by 57 per cent, 26 per cent and 38 per cent respectively in the period under review. Zedex has become the third largest prescribed cough syrup for the quarter while Spasmo Proxyvon has entered the list of top 100 brands in the countryquot;.

The company also maintained a conservative view on exports to Russian markets and did not conclude any sales on this account as it did last year.