Pharmaceutical company Almac record pre-tax profits of £48m

Pharmaceutical company Almac made a pre-tax profit of £48m on a record turnover of £634m in 2019.

The firm, which has its headquarters in Craigavon, County Armagh, said the results showed a "strong growth trajectory".

Employment also continued to grow and staff numbers are now more than 5,000.

Aside from its operations in Northern Ireland the firm also has major facilities in the Republic of Ireland, England and the US.

Alan Armstrong, the group chief executive, noted that the results covered a pre-pandemic period.

"Since then, much has changed in our industry," he said.

"In response to the Covid-19 pandemic we continue to conduct our critical business operations across all our locations.

"The health and safety of our employees and our ability to ensure the delivery of medicines to patients is, and always has been, our top priority and we are committed to ensure this continues."

In May the company got a $288,000 (£230,000) grant to support a clinical study in sub-Saharan Africa in efforts to find a treatment for coronavirus.

It was awarded by the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard.

Almac's clinical services division is providing clinical trial support such as packaging and distribution.

The firms sciences division is conducting analytical and stability testing for the investigational drug.