Shares of pharmaceutical major Wockhardt plunged as much as 20% on the BSE on Wednesday in intra-day trade, a day after it announced plans to approach the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cell to rework its debt.
Wockhardt shares, which fell to a low of Rs 68.45 during the day, closed at Rs 76, down 11%. Its announcement after trading hours on Tuesday prompted Religare Capital Markets to downgrade the stock to ?sell? from ?buy?, citing uncertainties regarding the future financials of the company.
Except for the shares of Opto Circuits, Ranbaxy and Bilcare, shares of major firms in the healthcare index, such as Dishman, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Dr Reddy’s, Piramal Healthcare and Cipla, performed badly too, on Wednesday. Sun Pharma shares went down by Rs 47 and Lupin shares went down by Rs 28. On March 27, Fitch Ratings downgraded Wockhardt?s national long-term rating to ?BBB? from ?A?, and maintained the rating on rating watch negative (RWN).
Nirmal Gangwal, CEO, Brescon Corporate Advisors Pvt Ltd, said, ?The move will allow the company to concentrate on its mid-term and long term business goals. Given the support of banks and financial institutions and various reliefs available under the extant guidelines, the company should see itself through the current crisis.? The board of directors of Wockhardt, on Tuesday, had also announced the company?s succession plan by appointing Murtaza Khorakiwala as the managing director and Huzaifa Khorakiwala as the executive director.
The company also said that results for the year January to December 2008 will now be released in April, as evaluation of a potential restructuring of certain businesses and its units has delayed the audit.