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news.UK-based Aesica is eyeing expansion in the US and Europe, and plans to treble in size by making two company acquisitions by the end of 2010.
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Aesica supplies active pharmaceutical ingredients, formulations and custom synthesis products to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. It was formed in 2004 after a management buy-out of the former BASF site in Cramlington.
Reportedly, Aesica brought in former Intercare Group CEO John Parker as a non-executive chairman and Nick Jones as chief financial officer last summer, while former CFO Adam Sims became the commercial director.
Robert Hardy, CEO of Aesica, said: “By the end of the year, we hope to have made at least two acquisitions, one in Europe and one in the US. For a long time,some of the pharmaceutical companies were outsourcing the chemical side of their business, but in the last three or four years there’s been a push to outsource more work in formulation, and we’re hoping to take advantage of that.
“Last year was a great year. It was the best year in our history from a profitability point of view, and this year is on course to be ahead of that. There was a world downturn but the pharmaceutical industry has remained pretty stable.
“The whole pharmaceutical industry is beginning to outsource. Rather than do manufacturing and developing themselves, they outsource to people like ourselves. We are looking to invest in the research and development side of the business, which we do at Cramlington. We are also keen to acquire those organisations on the formulation side to promote innovation and gain access to other pharmaceutical companies.
“The change worked very well. We brought in some experience we thought we needed for expansion and it helped us to develop our strategy.
“Most of the companies up here came up when there were grants in the 1970s, the pharmaceutical firms such as Merck, Glaxo and Pfizer. A lot of these companies aren’t here anymore. It’s the supply chain that’s still based up here, but the names have changed frequently.
“I think we have a full offering for the chemistry side of the business, which is based in the North East. The facilities we’re looking for outside the UK are expected to be on the formulated side of the business, and the chemistry side would stay in the region.”