CRAIGAVON, NORTHERN IRELAND--(Marketwire - March 09, 2009) - The Almac Group, headquartered in Craigavon Northern Ireland, with further sites across the UK and USA, is celebrating success after being named ‘Exporter of the Year’ by Northern Ireland’s economic development agency, Invest Northern Ireland.
The ‘Exporter of the Year’ award recognises outstanding export achievement and growth of a local business which has been exporting for over four years. It was one of five awards presented to local businesses as part of the Invest NI Innovation & Export Awards.
The achievement comes on the back of a successful 2008 for the group with export sales generating over 70% of the company turnover.
Almac are a major contributor to the Northern Ireland economy and are becoming increasingly important as it moves towards a high-value knowledge-based economy with strong potential for further development in the Pharma and Biotech sectors.
Almac’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Armstrong expressed pride in the recognition and said 2009 is going to be an exciting year for the company.
“As a Northern Ireland based company doing business with clients right across the globe, we have always understood the importance of developing existing export markets as well as exploring new export opportunities.
“This award from Invest NI is testament to the innovation of our company and the ingenuity of those working right across the Almac Group. For many years we have recognised the significance of building a balanced client portfolio right across the sector and this strategy is proving all the more important during the current downturn. We continue to recruit and have a positive outlook for the future. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to all those working at Almac who make our success possible.”
About Almac
The Almac Group comprises five closely integrated divisions offering a broad range of services from R&D, translational genomic services, API manufacture, product development, clinical trial supply and technology (IVRS/EDC), to commercial-scale manufacture. Almac provides services to over 600 companies including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
The company has almost 2,200 employees and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Construction of the company’s new $100m North American Headquarters started in July 08 and is expected to be completed 2010.
To find out more about Almac visit www.almacgroup.com.
Contacts:
Stakeholder Communications
Brendan Mulgrew
02890 339949
Stakeholder Communications
Carl Whyte
07767 393252
