An 85 percent drop in fiscal first-quarter profit has been reported by the world's biggest wine and spirits maker and distributor - Constellation Brands Inc. Citing restructuring costs as the reason for the plunge in profits, the thus far supposedly recession-resistant Constellation said that the earnings' figures still topped estimates by the Wall Street analysts by 1 percent!

Posting the quarterly figures on Wednesday, Constellation said that its earnings fell to $6.5 million or 3 cents a share, from the same quarter year-before figures of 44.6 million or 20 cents a share. Excluding one time items, the company earned 33 cents a share for the quarter that ended May 31, thereby marginally surpassing the 32 cents a share earnings estimated by analysts.

The quarterly sales for the company - which needs to slash costs in the face of "turbulent global economy" - tumbled 15 percent, to $791.6 million, to a certain extent because of the stronger dollar. The analysts had expected the sales to be $780.9 million.

The Victor, New York-based Constellation said that it was partly due to the consumers' drift towards lower-priced wine and beer products that the company's gross margin dropped from 35.3 percent to 33.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the company has maintained its 2010 forecast for adjusted earnings at $1.60 to $1.70 per share, with the analysts' estimates being $1.62 per share.