(Reuters) -Catalent Inc on Monday posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the third quarter, hurt by persistent production challenges at the contract drug manufacturer's major facilities.

The company had delayed its quarterly results report thrice in less than a month, bruised by a series of missteps at its Indiana and Brussels facilities.

Last month, Catalent promised to take corrective steps and said it had changed the financial directors at the facilities facing the biggest challenges, besides naming a new interim CFO in April.

Excluding items, it reported a third-quarter loss of $17 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with an adjusted profit of $188 million, or $1.04 per share, a year ago. Analysts on average had expected a loss of 3 cents, according to Refinitiv data.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)