23rd Nov 2005 07:02
United Drug PLC23 November 2005 United Drug plc Preliminary Announcement of ResultsYear ended 30 September 2005 Highlights 2005 2004 Increase •'000 •'000 Group turnover 1,325,915 1,252,557 6%Trading profit* 51,843 45,741 13%Profit before taxation** 49,220 42,420 16%Fully diluted earnings per share** 18.13c 15.76c 15%Dividend per share 5.50c 4.80c 15% *excluding goodwill amortisation**excluding goodwill amortisation and exceptional item Preliminary Announcement At a meeting of the Board of Directors, the financial statements of the Groupfor the year ended 30 September 2005 were approved. The Group Profit & LossAccount, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement, with comparative figures for theprevious year, are attached. Statement 2005 marks the 20th anniversary of United Drug reporting as a public listedcompany and also our 20th year of delivering double-digit compound annualprofit, earnings and dividend growth. 2005 has also seen the completion of majorinfrastructural investments to support our growing business, three strategicallyimportant bolt-on acquisitions to enhance our service offering and customerbase, and further record financial results. Group turnover for 2005 of €1.326 billion increased by 6% over 2004. Headlineprofit before amortisation of goodwill, exceptional items and tax of €49.220million is 16% ahead of the prior year and fully diluted earnings per share,measured on the same basis, increased by 15% to 18.13 cent. The move of ourDublin based businesses to the new Magna Park facility and the resultantdisposal of surplus properties gave rise to a once-off exceptional gain of€8.897 million in the period. Our continuing policy of improving returns to shareholders is reflected in aproposed final dividend for 2005 of 4.00 cent per share, a 15% increase over2004. When combined with the interim dividend paid of 1.50 cent per share thisbrings the total dividend for the year to 5.50 cent per share, an increase of15% over the 2004 dividend. Pharma Wholesale United Drug is committed to providing a top-quality service to our independentpharmacy customers and to providing a full range of support services thatenables them to compete effectively in the marketplace. In the Republic of Ireland, United Drug Wholesale has again substantiallyincreased turnover and profitability during the year. United Drug continues toattract a large number of ambitious, entrepreneurial, independent pharmacistcustomers who, with our support, are more than capable of competing in theirlocal markets with pharmacies owned by our fellow wholesalers and by the largecorporate owned groups. As a result, we have been able to further increase ourmarket share in a market that continues to grow strongly. The Irish economy continues to perform well. This factor, combined with ourageing and rapidly expanding population, is underpinning the growth in the Irishpharmaceutical market. Spending on health and drugs continues to be a priorityfor the Irish Government. The recent substantial increase in the number of'doctor only' medical cards will also drive demand growth for drugs in the yearsahead. United Drug Wholesale has further reduced its key expenses-to-sales ratio bygetting better utilisation out of our high-class facilities in Ballina, Dublinand Limerick. Our policy of sharing best practice amongst our facilitiescontinues to make our operations more efficient. In addition, our ability toleverage the combined purchasing power of all Group operations to achieve bettervalue from service providers has cemented our position as the most efficientoperator in our market. In Northern Ireland, Sangers has maintained its clear market leadershipposition. Significant new customer gains at the start of the financial year wereoffset by a 7% reduction in the price of ethical pharmaceuticals effective fromthe 1st January, under the UK Pharmaceutical Price Regulation System (PPRS)resulting in limited wholesale turnover growth in the period. This priceintervention happened earlier and more aggressively than we had anticipated, yetwe were able to deliver a profit increase in Sangers in the year as a result ofgood margin management and the impact of our ongoing cost control programme. Asthe lowest cost operator in the Northern Ireland market, Sangers is bestpositioned to capitalise on any further opportunities in the market. Thepharmaceutical market in Northern Ireland is returning to normal growth levelsafter the once-off impact of PPRS, and further profit growth is expected in2006. Pemberton Health & Beauty (Northern Ireland) and Sangers Distribution continueto perform strongly in the Northern Ireland market. Sangers Distribution had anumber of new hospital supply contract wins during the period. BradburySurgical, our specialist surgical distribution business, produced significantsales growth and made an important contribution to profitability during theyear. Overall the Pharma Wholesale division has had another successful year wheresales, profits and market share have all increased significantly and we havecontinued to grow our Northern Ireland business despite the once-off impact ofthe PPRS price reduction. As the market leader and most efficient player in bothmarkets, United Drug is well placed to continue to develop its business withinthese growing markets. Contract Distribution Outsourcing The Contract Distribution Outsourcing (CDO) division has enjoyed another strongyear of trading. The division provides supply chain, administrative andspecialist services to our multinational manufacturing partners and is at thecore of our manufacturer facing businesses. Our customer base for this serviceoffering is predominantly pharmaceutical manufacturers, of both human andveterinary medicines, but we also work with companies in cosmetics, consumerproducts and photographic products. The CDO division has a number of businessunits that reflect the various suppliers on the one hand and also the customerswe serve on the other. The most significant event over the course of the past year for CDO was thetransfer of our businesses from our facility at Belgard Road, which we hadoccupied for twelve years, to our new state-of-the-art facility at Magna Park,Citywest. We invested in this facility to increase capacity, improve our serviceoffering especially in terms of quality, and to keep ahead of the expectationsof our Principals and the bodies who regulate pharmaceutical distribution, suchas the Irish Medicines Board. The transfer involved moving over 17,000 palletsof product and was completed in an efficient manner, following rigorousplanning. The move has given us many advantages, which result from having thebusinesses located together on the same site. United Drug Distributors (UDD) is the largest business unit and provides storageand logistics solutions to pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Irish market. Thetransfer of the business to Citywest provided a challenge to the business interms of continuity of supply to the market, however, due to vigorous planning,much hard work and the support of our customers, the project was completed ontime and with no business interruption. At the time of the transfer, we took theopportunity to upgrade our Warehouse Management System, the new version of whichallows us to work in a more flexible way and so maximise our outputs. During theyear, we are delighted to have added the Tillotts Pharma, Mayne Pharma andChefaro businesses to our distribution portfolio. The year has seen a number of changes in personnel to back up our facility andsystems changes, with increased resources in both Account Management and theQuality function. We believe in investing in people as well as facilities, inorder to grow our business and offer a best-in-class service. The hospital distribution business continues to form an important part of theoverall service offering to manufacturers in terms of providing a focussedchannel service directly to the end user. The main focus for the hospitalbusiness this year has been on internal processes, again with the overall aim offurther improving the service offering to manufacturers and hospitalpharmacists. UDD has re-focused on the veterinary distribution business with the significantaddition of Intervet, the animal health arm of Akzo Nobel, to our portfolio.Intervet are a major player in the animal health market, with a broadly basedportfolio of products. Intervet are market leaders in both the Republic andNorthern Ireland markets, both of which we serve on their behalf. This businesstogether with that of Vetoquinol and BSN, provide a good platform for us toaggressively seek out new opportunities in the veterinary arena, with the aim ofbecoming the number one distributor in the market. The business of packaging pharmaceuticals has been developed as a value addedservice offering to our Principals over the past year. A small pilot businessPharmaceutical Packaging Services (PPS) was developed locally to service thesecondary repackaging needs of both pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturers.This gave us an insight into the actual needs of manufacturers and led to thepurchase of TD Packaging based in Swindon in the UK, in June of this year. TDPackaging employs 230 people and actually moved into specially designed premisesin July. They are involved in both primary and secondary packaging and havecapabilities for processing tablets, blister packs, sachets and liquidformulations. They include both pharmaceutical and nutritional manufacturers intheir customer base, and offer other value added services such as packagingdesign, assembly of clinical trial packs and also some regulatory activitiesincluding QP release. The recent re-engineering of their facilities has createdadditional capacity for the business. PPS has been integrated with TD Packaging. Pemberton, our consumer products marketing and distribution business, alsotransferred operations from Belgard Road to Magna Park during the course of theyear. As well as moving location, Pemberton underwent a significant systemschange, as we moved to new technologies for storage of product and picking oforders. The business made a substantial investment in the technology in order tomove from a paper-based system to an automated system and gain operationalefficiencies. The technology facilitates better stock management, as theportfolios we handle generally have quite broad ranges, but involve relativelysmall volumes at high value. We will be leveraging the competitive advantage ofthe technology to attract further new business. During the period, Pembertonadded a number of international fragrance brands through the expanding Cofrirange - namely Cosmopolitan, Escada, Anna Sui, Ghost, Dunhill, Inis, andFragrances of Ireland. The portfolio was also added to by the integration of theIntra Pharma business into Pemberton, expanding the range to include brands suchas Nuk and Spatone. Blackhall Pharmaceuticals, based in Swords, distribute, market and promote bothethical and consumer products into retail pharmacy and into dental surgeries.They have experienced another very profitable year and have added Medisource,Pharmaher and BMC Healthcare to their list of partners. Through this past year, significant changes have been made to the infrastructureof UDG, our joint venture in the UK. Not least was the completion in December2004 of the second warehouse, Amber Park II, just in time to take advantage ofwinning a major contract with Smith & Nephew for the warehousing of stock andproduction of orders for their global markets. In addition, we have successfullycompleted the roll out of replacement IT systems across the operations, placingtechnological competence at the core of our services offering. Finally, we havefurther consolidated our primary transport fleet that now handles the majorityof our palletised distribution. Toward the end of the year, we have addedfurther warehouse and distribution contracts to our portfolio including both thehuman and animal pharmaceutical businesses of the largest global pharmaceuticalcompany, Pfizer. The investments in warehousing and IT provide the platform forfurther and significant business developments and growth and UDG looks forwardto another exciting and prosperous year through 2006. Medical & Scientific 2005 was another key year in the ongoing expansion and development of theMedical & Scientific (M&S) division. The Division successfully managedchallenging structural and integration issues as well as achieving significantbusiness successes, which will create new platforms for growth of the Division. The first half of the year was dominated by the integration of the Unitech,Intraveno and Intra Pharma business units to create an M&S centre-of-excellencefor the Irish businesses, in United Drug's Magna Park business campus. The integration strategy for Magna Park focussed on maintaining thecustomer-facing trading identities, sales focus and business practices of thethree business units, while developing an enhanced, integrated back-officestructure to support them. In the newly integrated organisation, Unitech retained its sales structure andidentity as the biotechnology, scientific and clinical diagnostics arm of thedivision in Ireland. Intraveno retained its identity as the medical-surgical armand Intra Pharma as the pharma-focussed business. The formation of two first class M&S structures in Basingstoke and now in MagnaPark is the final element of our strategy to offer both Principals and end-usercustomers an unparalleled service. The second half of 2005 began with the acquisition of Presearch in the UK. Basedin Hitchin in Hertfordshire, Presearch was founded in 1991 to support the saleof specialised scientific instrumentation to the pharma manufacturing sector inthe UK. Presearch differentiated itself in this competitive market by offering asuperior technical and applications support service. In the intervening years,Presearch has carved out a niche for itself as a super-specialised supplier tothe chromatography sector, representing leading edge, technology-drivencompanies such as Teledyne Isco, SPARK Holland, Antec and ATAS. Presearch'sposition as an added-value supplier in this key niche sector complements theDivision's strategy to develop such businesses in the UK. Our two-centrestructure has also allowed us to win distribution rights for these agencies inthe Irish market. Key Presearch technical personnel will actively support thisexpansion. The acquisition of Presearch was quickly followed by the sale of two DaVincioperating robots in the UK by Mantis Surgical, our Minimally Invasive Surgery(MIS) unit in the UK. Developed by Intuitive Surgical Inc. (US), the DaVincirobot is one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced medicaldevices available today. The upcoming launch on the Irish market of Biotest's Intratect immunoglobulin,distributed by Unitech, will provide a strong business opportunity for the yearsahead. A worldwide shortage of immunoglobulin products has constrained medicalpractice in Ireland to date and the medical community has welcomed the newsource of supply. This will greatly strengthen the position of our Intra Pharmahospital pharmacy business. Other initiatives such as Unitech's Point-of-Care (POC) team delivering quickeraccess to diagnostic results through technology-led, portable and less-complexanalysis methods, and New Splint's launch of the MEGA-C Revision System fromWaldemar LINK have enjoyed significant success this year, and will continue tocontribute to the on-going growth of the Division. Once again, the M&S division has advanced significantly in the year in terms ofstructure, strategic development and profit contribution. Developing ourpresence in the medical and scientific sector continues to be a strategicpriority for the Group. Contract Sales Outsourcing Ashfield Healthcare continued its outstanding development and enjoyed anotherrecord year. All business units performed strongly. Ashfield Ireland achievedits best ever year and moved into new premises, whilst the state-of-the-art UKoffice is currently undergoing some expansion to facilitate business growth. Theclient base is further broadened through specialist teams with Astra Zeneca,Rosemont, Crawford Pharma, Servier, Pliva, Valeant, Provalis, Coloplast, Ranbaxyand Meda. The acquisition of In2Focus, the third largest UK contract salesoutsourcing (CSO) provider, was completed at the beginning of June 2005. Thisacquisition will further broaden our client base. The acquisition now means thatthe combined United Drug CSO group is the largest provider of CSO services tothe UK pharma market with the group now employing in excess of 1,000 people. Bycombining operational support facilities and ensuring enhanced procurementefficiencies across a broadened client base, the combined group has additionalefficiency and growth opportunities in the competitive UK market. The CSO group is constantly looking to add value to its service offering therebymaintaining one of our key objectives of maximising shareholder return. Over thelast 12 months a part-time Medical Director and a full time Compliance Managerhave been added to our ever expanding CSO skill set. The CSO group also remains focused on generating new revenue streams and addingnew clients to its ever-expanding and prestigious list of customers to ensurethe continuation of its phenomenal record of year-on-year growth and to this endis setting up a new pilot division called Satellite CARE. This new division willadd the NHS to its current list of clients by providing intermediate treatmentand assessment centres to help Primary Care Trusts (PCT's) manage the treatmentof patients with long term conditions, provide specialist assessment units,reduce emergency admissions, move healthcare provision closer to the patient'shome, provide a collaborative approach to care provision and provide fixed-costhealthcare. One of the key drivers of Ashfield's success remains the genuine belief that thetraining and development of employees is fundamental to its continued success.Highly skilled sales representatives and nurses ensure maximum commercialbenefit is achieved. External accreditation therefore continues to be the bestbenchmark to ensure we are meeting these objectives and has this year come inthe form of the Leicestershire Business Awards 2005 where Ashfield was awardedthe 'Success through People' category. This was further supported through the'Investors in People' award where Ashfield became one of the first companies inthe UK to successfully gain re-accreditation against the new challenging'Profile' standard. Group Development 2005 has seen the completion of major infrastructural projects throughout theGroup. These major investments are now finalised and combined with our enhancedIT platform, developing pool of management talent and strong Balance Sheetprovide a solid base for further strong growth in the coming years. This strongbase also allows us to bolt-on additional businesses where we have been able toidentify quality healthcare services companies who see the benefits of joiningforces with the enlarged United Drug group. I am delighted that we have beenable to complete three such acquisitions this year and believe that In2Focus, TDPackaging and Presearch will make a significant contribution to the futuredevelopment of United Drug. The end of the financial year also saw another milestone for United Drug withthe retirement of Martin Rafferty, our Chairman of 20 years. Martin's firstinvolvement with United Drug dates back to 1971, when as a banker he helped tofinance the early stages of the development of the business. Since then hisknowledge, experience and integrity have been invaluable to the continuedsuccess of the business. I would like to thank him for his guidance to me, andall the management team, over the years. I would also like to wish our incomingChairman, Ronnie Kells, well in his new role. Dividends The Directors are proposing a final dividend of 4.00 cent per share. In additionto the interim dividend, this gives a total dividend for the year of 5.50 centper share. This is a 15% increase on the 2004 dividend and continues on ourpolicy of rewarding shareholders with significant dividend improvements. TheDirectors are pleased to advise that all shareholders will be given theopportunity of receiving all or part of their 2005 final dividend as a scripdividend in the form of new ordinary shares. The share alternative election/mandate forms, setting out the details of the share alternative offer and theprocedures to be followed, will be posted to shareholders in January 2006.Cheques in respect of the final dividend or, alternatively, share certificateswill be posted on 15 February 2006 to holders of ordinary shares whose namesappear on the Company's register at the close of business on 2 December 2005. 2005 Annual Report and Annual General Meeting The 2005 Annual Report and Accounts will be published in January 2006 and theAnnual General Meeting of the Company will be held on 21 February 2006. Liam FitzGerald Chief Executive23 November 2005 This announcement and further information is available on our web-site:www.united-drug.ie Group Profit & Loss Accountfor the year ended 30 September 2005 Notes Continuing Operations Acquisitions Total 2005 2005 2005 2004 •'000 •'000 •'000 •'000 Turnover: 1,722,248 15,788 1,738,036 1,605,012includingshare of joint ventures Less: share of (412,121) - (412,121) (352,455)joint ventures Group turnover 1,310,127 15,788 1,325,915 1,252,557 Operating (1,261,648) (14,909) (1,276,557) (1,208,939)costs Goodwill (4,100) (610) (4,710) (4,138)amortisation Group 44,379 269 44,648 39,480operatingprofit Share of joint 2,485 2,123venture'soperating profit Trading 47,133 41,603profit,including share ofjoint ventures Exceptional 2 8,897 -item (net) Group interest (2,624) (3,378)payable (net) Share of joint 1 57ventures' net interest Profit on 53,407 38,282ordinaryactivities beforetaxation Tax on profit (11,011) (8,375)on ordinaryactivities Profit for the 42,396 29,907financial yearattributable toordinaryshareholders Dividends paid 3 (3,283) (2,789) proposed 3 (8,804) (7,532) Profitretained for 30,309 19,586the financial yearattributabletoordinaryshareholders Profit and 116,044 92,646lossaccount at beginningof year Scrip 4,685 3,812dividends Transfer in 74 -respect ofshare entitlementscheme Profit and 151,112 116,044loss account at endof year Restriction (6,033) (5,667)arising on treasuryshares Profit and 145,079 110,377lossaccount at end of yearas restricted Earnings per ordinary shareBefore goodwill amortisation and beforeexceptional item- basic 4 18.41c 15.97c- diluted 4 18.13c 15.76cBefore goodwill amortisation and afterexceptional item- basic 4 21.57c 15.97c- diluted 4 21.24c 15.76cAfter goodwill amortisation and afterexceptional item- basic 4 19.41c 14.03c- diluted 4 19.12c 13.84c Group Balance Sheetat 30 September 2005 2005 2005 2004 2004 •'000 •'000 •'000 •'000 Fixed AssetsGoodwill 95,315 62,233Tangible fixed assets 58,801 58,223 Financial AssetsInterest in jointventureShare of gross assets 83,660 67,880Share of gross liabilities (74,756) 8,904 (60,759) 7,121 163,020 127,577Current AssetsStocks 135,852 123,994Contract work-in-progress - 29,300Debtors 264,104 208,524Cash at bank and in hand 39,804 48,671 439,760 410,489 Creditors: amounts fallingdue within one yearBank and other financial (2,826) (20,392)obligations Other creditors (259,499) (228,330) (262,325) (248,722)Net current assets 177,435 161,767 Total assets less current 340,455 289,344liabilities Creditors: amounts fallingdue after more than oneyearBank and other financial (89,993) (90,557)obligationsOther creditors (8,271) -Provisions for liabilities (4,408) (2,957)and charges Net assets 237,783 195,830 Capital and reservesCalled up share capital 11,382 11,153Share premium account 87,606 80,433Profit and loss account 145,079 110,377Other reserves (6,284) (6,133)Shareholders' funds - 237,783 195,830equity Group Cash Flow Statementfor the year ended 30 September 2005 2005 2004 •'000 •'000 Operating cash flow before contract 26,815 39,180work-in-progressCash flow from contract work-in-progress 30,289 (27,115)Cash flow from operating activities 57,104 12,065Returns on investments and servicing of finance (3,489) (3,409)Corporation tax paid (7,363) (6,909)Capital expenditure and financial investment (12,014) (1,557)Acquisitions and disposals (25,312) (3,233)Equity dividends paid (6,105) (5,243)Cash flow before financing 2,821 (8,286)Financing (13,543) 57,717Decrease/(increase) in cash for the year (10,722) 49,431 Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in netdebt(Decrease)/increase in cash for the year (10,722) 49,431Net decrease/(increase) in debt 20,579 (50,746) Changes in net debt resulting from cash flows 9,857 (1,315)Loan notes issued - (4,098)Finance leases acquired with new subsidiaries (529) -Loans acquired with new subsidiaries (150) -Translation adjustments 84 31 Movement in net debt 9,262 (5,382)Net debt at beginning of year (62,278) (56,896) Net debt at end of year (53,016) (62,278) Notes to the preliminary announcementfor the year ended 30 September 2005 1 Accounting Policies The accounting policies and presentation applied are consistent with those applied in the 2005 Annual Report, and are in accordance with applicable accounting standards. The Group continues to prepare for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS') as its primary accounting basis, following the adoption of Regulation No. 1606/2002 by the European Parliament in 2002. IFRS will apply for the first time in the Group's Annual Report for the year ending 30 September 2006 and for the Group's Interim Report for the six month period ending 31 March 2006. 2 Exceptional item (net) 2005 2004 •'000 •'000 Disposal of fixed assets 8,897 - The exceptional item relates to the net gain which was recognised following the rationalisation of the Group's property portfolio as a result of the move by the Republic of Ireland based operating entities to Magna Business Park. This includes a profit on disposal of fixed assets of €11,397,000 and the associated costs of the property rationalisation programme of €2,500,000. The net tax charge in respect of the above was €1,995,000. 3 Dividends - equity shares 2005 2004 •'000 •'000Paid: interim dividend of 1.50 cent per share(2004: 1.32 cent per share) 3,283 2,789Proposed: final dividend of 4.00 cent per share(2004: 3.48 cent per share) 8,804 7,532 12,087 10,321 Notes to the preliminary announcement continued for the year ended 30 September 2005 Earnings per ordinary share 2005 2004 Basic earnings per shareProfit on ordinary activities after tax €42,396,000 €29,907,000 Weighted average shares outstanding duringthe 218,449,852 213,103,041year Basic EPS - cent 19.41 14.03Goodwill amortisation - cent 2.16 1.94 Basic EPS before goodwill amortisation - 21.57 15.97cent Exceptional item (net of tax) - cent (3.16) - Basic EPS before goodwill amortisation and 18.41 15.97exceptional item - cent Fully diluted earnings per shareProfit on ordinary activities after tax €42,396,000 €29,907,000 Weighted average shares outstanding during 218,449,852 213,103,041the year Number of dilutive shares under option 3,299,029 2,920,129Weighted average shares for calculation of 221,748,881 216,023,170fully diluted EPS Fully diluted EPS - cent 19.12 13.84Goodwill amortisation - cent 2.12 1.92 Fully diluted EPS before goodwill 21.24 15.76amortisation - cent Exceptional item (net of tax) - cent (3.11) - Fully diluted EPS before goodwill 18.13 15.76amortisation and exceptional item - cent The 7,623,066 (2004: 7,528,066) treasury shares held by the Group do not rankfor dividend and have therefore beenexcluded from the weighted average number of shares in issue used in thecalculation of earnings per share. For reference: Liam FitzGerald - Chief Executive Pauline McAlesterUnited Drug plc Murray ConsultantsTel:+353-1-4598877 Tel:+353-1-4980300 SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTS UNITED DRUG PLC PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2005 Dublin / London, 23rd November 2005: The Board of United Drug plc, a leadingprovider of services to pharmaceutical retailers and manufacturers in Irelandand the UK, today presented the financial statements of the Group for the yearended 30th September 2005. Financial Highlights 2005 2004 Increase •'000 •'000 % Group Turnover 1,325,915 1,252,557 6% Trading profit* 51,843 45,741 13% Profit befor taxation* 49,220 42,420 16% Fully diluted earnings per share* 18.13c 15.76c 15% Dividend per share 5.50c 4.80c 15% * excluding goodwill amortisation** excluding goodwill amortisation and exceptional item Summary Highlights of Group €2005 marks the 20th Anniversary of United Drug reporting double-digit compound annual profit, earnings and dividend growth. •Strong performance recorded across all divisions in the UK and Ireland - Pharma Wholesale, Contract Distribution Outsourcing, Medical & Scientific and Contract Sales Outsourcing. •Profit before tax, goodwill and exceptionals was up 16% to €49.22 million. •Group turnover increased 6% to €1.33 billion. •Fully diluted EPS, excluding goodwill amortisation and exceptional item up 15% to 18.13 cent. •Total dividend for year was up 15% to 5.50 cent per share. •Year-end also marked the retirement of Martin Rafferty as Chairman of the Group after 20 years in the role, and the appointment of Ronnie Kells to the position. Pharma Wholesale •Continued growth in number of independent pharmacist customers. •Further reduction in expenses to sales ratio driving margins. Contract Distribution Outsourcing •Successful completion and opening of €40 million new purpose built facilities at Magna Park, Citywest. •Completed move to new facilities in Ireland and the UK giving manufacturers increased capacity and placing technological competence at the core of our service offering. •Further new business added to our warehouse and distribution portfolio in the human and animal pharmaceutical businesses including Pfizer, Smith & Nephew and Intervet, the animal health arm of Akzo Nobel. •Acquisition of TD Packaging in the UK providing primary and secondary packaging to international pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturer industries. •Continued growth of hospital distribution business improving the service offering to manufacturers and hospital pharmacists. Medical & Scientific •Further growth recorded in this sector, and acquisition of Presearch in the UK completed. •Two key sales achieved for new DiVinci robot, one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced minimally invasive medical devices available today. •Preparations advanced for upcoming launch on the Irish market of Biotest's Intratect immunoglobulin, strengthening our Intrapharma hospital pharmacy business. Up to now worldwide shortage of products has constrained medical practice in Ireland. Contract Sales Outsourcing •Continued expansion of Ashfield Healthcare in the UK and Ireland, and establishment of a US business. •Acquisition of In2Focus, the third largest UK contract sales outsourcing provider. •New pilot satellite CARE division established in UK, providing intermediate treatment and assessment centres to help Primary Care Trusts manage the treatment of patients. •Highly skilled team base, enhanced with appointments of new Medical Director and Compliance Manager Announcing the year end results this morning, United Drug's Chief Executive,Liam FitzGerald, said: "2005 marks the 20th Anniversary of United Drug reporting as a public listed company and a continuation of our track record of delivering double-digit compound annual profit, earnings and dividend growth throughout this period. "During the year, we have also seen the completion of major infrastructural investments to support our growing businesses in the UK and Ireland, three strategically important bolt-on acquisitions in the UK to enhance our service offering and customer base, and further record financial results. These investments, combined with our enhanced IT platform, developing pool of management talent and strong balance sheet provide a solid base for further strong growth in the coming years". Ends.Wednesday, 23rd November 2005 For reference: Liam FitzGerald - Chief Executive Pauline McAlesterUnited Drug plc Murray ConsultantsTel:+353-1-4598877 Tel:+353-1-4980300 Note to Editors United Drug was founded in 1948 and is a leading healthcare services provider topharmaceutical retailers and manufacturers in the UK and Ireland, operating infour key business divisions: Pharma Wholesale; Contract Sales Outsourcing;Contract Distribution Outsourcing, and Medical & Scientific. The Company employsover 2,000 people through its operations in Ireland and the UK. United Drug islisted on the Irish and UK Stock Exchanges and has a market capitalisation ofover €750 million. The Company has a long-term high growth earning track record,reporting in excess of 20% growth over the past five years. United Drug's operations Strategic Positioning: Pharma Wholesale - No. 1 Wholesaler (Ireland and Northern Ireland) Contract SalesOutsourcing - Strong player (UK and Ireland) Contract DistributionOutsourcing - Pharma No. 1 Distributor to Wholesalers and Hospitals (UK and Ireland) - Consumer No. 1 in Cosmetic and Photographic products (Ireland) Medical & Scientific - No. 1 Biotech Supply Company (Ireland) - Growing business in the UK. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
UDG.L