Norbrook Laboratories to invest £15m in Northern Ireland facility

Newry headquartered Norbrook Laboratories plans to invest £15 million to expand its manufacturing capacity and upgrade its lab facilities primarily in Northern Ireland.

The privately owned veterinary pharmaceutical company, which employs 1,500 people in Newry and a further 1,500 worldwide, today reported an 8.5 per cent rise in annual turnover to £216 million.

In the 12 months to August 2015 operating profits at the company also increased to £24 million – up from £15.8 million in 2014.

Liam Nagle, chief executive of Norbrook, said the strong performance was driven by underlying growth and a number of important new product launches both in its livestock and companion animal portfolios.

The latest results show North America, currently the company’s largest trading region, grew revenue in the region by 12 per cent on the back of the product launches

According to Mr Nagle, who joined Norbrook as chief executive last February, the company enjoyed a “solid performance” in UK and Irish markets but the weak euro had an impact on the company’s mainland European sales figures.

He says it would be in Norbrook’s best interests for the UK to remain part of the European Union - both from a trading perspective and also because a significant percentage of its Newry workforce lives in the Republic of Ireland and travel across the border each day.

He said there is a good opportunity for the Newry company to diversify further into companion healthcare sector which is a rapidly growing segment of the veterinary pharmaceutical market.

Historically the large animal market accounts for around 80 per cent of Norbrook’s sales.

Mr Nagle said Norbrook remains committed to investing in R&D, which he said is at the heart of the company’s growth strategy and a new £15 million capital expenditure programme over the next 18 months will help support ongoing research projects.

He said the company has a strong pipeline of new products under development which it expects will “drive above market revenue and earnings growth in the years ahead.”

During the year the Newry company, which was founded by businessman Eddie Haughey who died in a helicopter crash in 2014, sold its investment in the North of England-based Cumberland Breweries to the American company Alltech.

It also stated in the accounts that post financial year end, it completed an asset restructuring exercise to remove non-veterinary pharma assets from the group’s balance sheet.