Enterprising duo sell firm in £20m deal

Nov 20 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

TWO North East entrepreneurs have pocketed £20m after selling their business and plan to try to repeat their success with a new company.

Business partners Fiona Cruickshank and Brian Dougherty set up the Prudhoe-based Specials Laboratory in 1999 and built it into a £14m turnover company, employing 120 people.

Irish-based United Drug yesterday bought Specials, saying it will continue to operate it as a subsidiary from its three sites in Prudhoe, Northumberland.

The £20.1m deal, with a further profit-based £4.5m over two years, will allow the duo to concentrate on building up SCM Pharma, a spin-off company de-merged from Specials last month. SCM, which operates in a global market and specialises in drug development, currently employs 50 people at a site on the Low Prudhoe Industrial Estate and an office in nearby Stocksfield.

Fiona Cruickshank said: “I like starting stuff. I’m not great at maintenance. I have known for some time I wanted someone to take the company on to the next level. I love Specials and I love the people who work there. It has a good trade buyer, a buyer who will keep it in the region, keep the current management, under general manager Sharon Griffiths, and help it grow.

“We will use the money from Specials to invest in the new business. People who know me know I will not be splashing out on anything extravagant. However I recently spent £300 on a pair of beautiful new spangly Gina shoes!”

Dublin-based United Drug, with an annual turnover of more than £1.3bn, is an international provider of services to healthcare manufacturers and pharmaceutical retailers.

United Drug’s chief executive, Liam FitzGerald, said: “’We are delighted to announce the acquisition of The Specials Laboratory. It has an excellent management team and operates off an extremely high quality platform to manufacture product to meet specific patient prescription requirements.”

Specials manufactures unlicensed medicines for the retail pharmaceutical and hospital markets known as, “specials” which are used to treat patients who fail to respond to normal prescribed medicine.

SCM expects turnover for the year up to October 2009 to reach £4.5m and that to double to £9m in the following year with staff numbers by the end of 2010 expected to be around 75.

Ms Cruickshank added: “Today marks a very important landmark and after almost 10 years we felt it was the right time to de-merge the two companies. We’ve built up a highly successful, profitable and self-sustaining business in the Specials, and with a truly outstanding senior management team, we know it will continue to excel in the specials market.

“We now want to focus our efforts on SCM Pharma and capitalise on the high growth opportunities presented by the global pharmaceutical, bio and healthcare markets.

“SCM Pharma is a leading light in the region’s burgeoning science and technology sector.”