Business

Almac to create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland with massive expansion plan

Almac's sprawling global headquarters in Craigavon. The pharma giant has said it will recruit around 1,000 new staff in the north over the next three years.
Almac's sprawling global headquarters in Craigavon. The pharma giant has said it will recruit around 1,000 new staff in the north over the next three years. Almac's sprawling global headquarters in Craigavon. The pharma giant has said it will recruit around 1,000 new staff in the north over the next three years.

CRAIGAVON-headquartered pharma giant Almac has announced plans to create more than 1,000 new jobs in Northern Ireland over the next three years.

The pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer said it’s part of a global recruitment drive to expand the group’s overall workforce by 1,800 in the next 36 months.

The announcement comes just months after Almac declared a 33 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £63.5 million for the year ending September 2020.

In the last 18 months, Almac said it has been instrumental in providing support to over 140 separate “crucial” research projects for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments through a range of service areas.

The group currently employs around 6,200 people across 19 sites globally, with around 3,800 staff based in Northern Ireland.

The bulk of its workforce is located at its expanding campus in Craigavon. The company also recently opened a new base in Derry.

The recent surge in profit has helped accelerate the pharma group’s growth ambitions.

Almac maintains a long-held policy of reinvesting 100 per cent of group profits back into the business.

Group chief executive, Alan Armstrong, said the expansion is in reaction to a steady growth in demand for Almac’s services.

“Almac’s mission is to ‘advance human health’ and we are proud to be supporting so many global clients as they develop their life-saving treatment for patients in need,” he said.

“Over 1,000 of these positions will be based in Northern Ireland and come with a range of benefits including flexible working, competitive salary and an annual bonus.

“Crucially this offers individuals the chance to help us continue our provision of solutions whilst making a real and positive contribution to health right across the world.”

Almac said it already actively recruiting for 120 positions across sites in Craigavon, Belfast, Derry, Dundalk, Athlone, Charnwood and Edinburgh.

Although founded in 2002 by the late Sir Allen McClay, Almac is rooted in the Galen business the Cookstown-born pharmacist turned entrepreneur founded in 1968.

The late Sir Allen McClay.
The late Sir Allen McClay. The late Sir Allen McClay.

Sir Allen retired from Galen in 2001, four years after it was floated on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the north’s first billion-pound company.

His new entity Almac Sciences quickly acquired five divisions of Galen.

The charitable trust, the McClay Foundation, which Sir Allen founded in the months before his death in January 2010, continues to own a majority stake of the Almac Group.