Date:08/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/10/08/stories/2004100802270200.htm

Back Wockhardt sells UK plant; to invest Ł1 m in Wales unit

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Oct. 7

WOCKHARDT UK Ltd, the British arm of the Indian drug company, has sold its plant at Luton, near London, to UK-based Bristol Laboratories, for an undisclosed sum.

The sale of the Luton plant marks the completion of restructuring undertaken by Wockhardt in the UK. Wockhardt has brought two companies acquired by it — Wallis Laboratory and CP Pharmaceuticals — under a single entity, Wockhardt UK Ltd.

Wallis' products manufactured earlier at itsLuton plant have been shifted to the manufacturing units of CP Pharmaceuticals in Wales and to Wockhardt's plants in India, according to a company release issued here on Thursday.

Further, the note quotes the Wockhardt Chairman, Mr Habil Khorakiwala, as saying, "We are upgrading the Wales plant as Wockhardt's largest overseas manufacturing base at an investment of Ł1 million." The upgraded Wales plant will eventually become a manufacturing base for Wockhardt's German subsidiary Esparma GmbH.

"The sale of the Luton plant will reduce our operating costs and improve the bottomline," the Wockhardt UK Managing Director, Mr Sirjiwan Singh, said in the note. The UK contributes about 35 per cent of Wockhardt's consolidated revenue.