Ranbaxy posts March-quarter loss on write-offs

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, which has agreed to be acquired by rival Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd for $3.2 billion, posted a surprise loss in the March quarter due to write-offs related to regulatory sanctions for poor manufacturing quality.

The company, owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Ltd <4568.T>, has been slapped with a slew of regulatory sanctions in the last year, hitting its sales in the United States and Europe, its primary export markets.

Ranbaxy's net loss in January-March stood at 736.54 million rupees ($12.27 million), compared with a profit of 1.26 billion rupees a year earlier. The mean estimate of 22 analysts was a profit of 958.7 million rupees.

 

Net sales rose 1.2 percent to 24.4 billion rupees.

Shares in Ranbaxy, valued at about $3.3 billion, fell about 2 percent to 462.2 rupees after the results announcement, while the Nifty was up 3 percent.

($1 = 60.0050 rupees)

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui; Editing by Sunil Nair)