Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories announces major expansion plans to enhance its laboratory services footprint and create new jobs in Ireland

Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, part of Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), the world leader in bioanalytical testing, announces strategic plans for the expansion of its Dungarvan, Ireland campus, including development of a new building as well as expansion of its current facility. Further, as a major employer in the South East of Ireland, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories is set to increase its workforce to over 500 staff by 2021 with this investment by its parent company, Eurofins Scientific. Over 175 new jobs have been created in the past 24 months.

The launch of this major building expansion programme combines the expansion of the existing 2,700m² laboratory with an additional 4,400m² extension, as well as the development of a 1,800m² second site on the campus located in the IDA Business Park, Dungarvan. This means that the project will bring the Group's capacity to almost 9,000m² of state-of-the-art laboratory surface to serve the biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland and the UK. The project is in the planning submission phase and building works are planned to commence in Q4 2016. The project is another example of the commitment of Eurofins Scientific to continued growth and investment in its laboratory operations in the region.

"This expansion is the result of successfully growing strategic partnerships with our clients and the value we bring to them and their target markets. And it reinforces Eurofins' absolute commitment to aggressively funding growth to enhance the way we serve our customers as well as build the best and widest-reaching testing network in the biopharmaceutical market," said Timothy S. Oostdyk, Ph.D., Chairman, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, and Group Senior Vice President, Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing.

Carmel Fitzpatrick, Managing Director, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories in Ireland, said, "We currently serve 18 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies and our success is attributable mostly to the excellent commitment and technical capability of our people. Our broad base of clients means we work on a diverse range of products and development projects which offers an excellent scope for continuous learning and development of technical depth that is unparalleled. We invest heavily in our internal training programmes, and we are grateful to be supported by the IDA and the Skillnets to deliver technical competency in our team that is world class. We also pride ourselves on a service offering that meets the complex and varying needs of our clients, many of whom avail of all our service tiers, whether in-house or at the client facility. Our in-house testing services are complemented by our innovative and award-winning Professional Scientific Services (PSS) programme that places full-time analysts, technicians, scientists and technical support personnel managed by us directly at the client facility to provide long term staffing needs while maintaining the same services, expertise and cGMP compliance available at our facility in Dungarvan. We have PSS teams based at a variety of client locations in Ireland and UK." 

Welcoming the announcement Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O'Connor said: "It's great to see an established successful company like Eurofins expanding its operations further in Waterford with the addition of over 160 staff over the next five years. That's on top of the 175 jobs created in the past two years. A key priority for me as Minister is encouraging more companies to set up in our regions. Companies setting up and creating jobs in our regions ensures that there are opportunities for positive knock-on effects in the surrounding areas. Only a strong economy supporting people at work can pay for the services needed to create a fair society. Already a major employer in this key regional location, this further expansion and substantial number of new jobs will benefit the entire South East Region. It demonstrates great commitment by Eurofins' parent company, Eurofins Scientific. I congratulate the company and their workforce and wish them
continued success."

CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan said "This investment demonstrates Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories' commitment to Dungarvan, and the large cluster of biopharma companies based in Ireland. Achieving increased levels of investment in regional locations is an important focus of IDA's strategy 'Winning - FDI 2015-2019' and today's announcement is an important step in that direction. I wish Eurofins every success as they continue to grow their operations in the South East Region."

For more information about Eurofins, please visit www.eurofins.com or contact:

Notes for the editor:

About Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, Inc.

Founded in 1961, global leader Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories provides comprehensive bio/pharmaceutical laboratory services for all stages of the drug development process and supports all functional areas of bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing, including method development, microbiology, process validation and quality control.

As a member of Eurofins Scientific's BioPharma Product Testing Group-the largest network of harmonized bio/pharmaceutical GMP product testing laboratories worldwide-Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories partners with world's largest pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies to transform their science into outstanding solutions. With a global capacity of more than 625,000 square feet, its network of GMP laboratories operates under the same strict quality procedures, LIMS, centralized billing system and online data access portal, LabAccess.comSM, across 22 locations worldwide.

In addition to these laboratory locations, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories has teams of scientists placed at more than 60 client facilities worldwide through its Professional Scientific Services insourcing program. www.EurofinsLancasterLabs.com

Eurofins - a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific believes it is the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing, as well as one of the global market leaders in agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and central laboratory services. In addition, Eurofins is one of the key emerging players in specialty clinical diagnostic testing in Europe and the USA.

With over 23,000 staff in more than 225 laboratories across 39 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 130,000 validated analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic. The Group provides its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities and healthcare practitioners around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA,
Bloomberg ERF FP).

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgement of Eurofins Scientific’ management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company’s management as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.