Australia's Ansell warns of currency headwinds, shares slump

* Underlying NPAT $187.5 mln Vs $157 mln

* Reports weakness in North American market

* Warns EPS will be $1.05-1.20, down from $1.22 in 2014-15 (Adds analyst comment, updates shares)

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Australian condom and rubber glove maker Ansell Ltd (Other OTC: ANSLF - news) said North American economic weakness and adverse currency moves hammered annual sales and warned earnings could fall as much as 14 percent in the year ahead, sending its shares sharply lower.

Its comments on the U.S. market will raise questions about whether a pickup in that economy will soon see an interest rate hike.

The rate-hike question is spreading to all areas of manufacturing industry, and may also raise concerns over whether Ansell's $615 million acquisition of U.S. rubber glove maker BarrierSafe Solutions International in early 2014 is bringing the benefits it was meant to.

Melbourne-based Ansell, which reports in U.S. dollars, met analyst expectations on Monday by saying net profit came in at $187.5 million for the year to June 30, up from an underlying profit of $157 million the previous year.

But the No. 2 condom maker behind London-listed Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc surprised analysts by blaming, in part, "a North American market that slowed significantly" for declining sales in its key business units of industrial protection and medical protection.

Looking ahead, it warned of "significant uncertainty" in economic conditions across several key markets and unfavourable foreign exchange movements as a rising U.S. dollar lessens the benefit of sales growth in Europe. The company also reported weak sales in Russia, which is under a trade embargo, and Brazil.

Ansell said it expected earnings per share of between $1.05 and $1.20 in the 2015-16 financial year, down from $1.22 in 2014-15.

Its shares fell by as much 20 percent in early trade, on track for their biggest one-day fall since 1987. The broader market was down 0.3 percent.

"The key number the market's focusing on is the lowered guidance. That's a pretty big drop," said Morningstar (NasdaqGS: MORN - news) analyst Chris Kallos.

"The surprising aspect of this is the volatility that they're predicting in the U.S. (but) strategically the acquisitions all make sense."

(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Stephen Coates and Eric Meijer)