Eurofins makes second Irish acquisition in under a year

Eurofins Scientific, the Belgian laboratories giant that employs more than 300 people in Ireland, has made its second Irish acquisition in less than a year after snapping up City Analysts Limited for an undisclosed sum.

The company, a provider of water chemistry and microbiological testing which spun out of UCD 16 years ago, employs 37 people across two labs in Dublin and Shannon.

City Analysts is one of the few labs in Europe with accreditation for aquatic toxicity testing. It also has expertise in niche areas of water testing, including aquatic microbiology, toxicology and parasitology.

The transaction is the second made by Eurofins Ireland following its acquisition of Cork-based Environmental Laboratories Services (ELS) last summer. ELS was established in 1998. It provides independent testing services to comply with the EU drinking water directive. The 27-strong company also claims to be the only Irish lab accredited for elemental impurities testing on drug products.

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In addition to the acquisitions, Eurofins recently expanded its laboratories and facilities in Dungarvan, Ireland, allowing the group to double the volume of samples tested annually at this site.

Environment testing

The company's subsidiary, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, announced plans in July 2016 to create 165 jobs over a five-year period as part of an expansion of its operations in Dungarvan, Co Waterford. It already employed 300 people at the facility at that time.

Eurofins said recent developments had led to it becoming “the number one environment testing player in Ireland”.

"These acquisitions, together with the expansion of our Dungarvan facilities, are an example of our commitment to Ireland and they reinforce Eurofins' environment testing portfolio and expand the range of services offered to our clients," said the company's chief executive, Dr Gilles Martin.

Eurofins, which was founded in 1987, is listed on the Parisian stock exchange. It is headquartered in Brussels and employs more than 30,000 staff in 400 laboratories across 42 countries.

The company has a portfolio of over 150,000 analytical methods and performs more than 360 million tests each year to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic.

Eurofins’ sales have increased by 37 per cent each year since 1987 to over €2.54 billion in 2016.