A TEESSIDE pharmaceutical firm has cheered a record year in which turnover rose more than 50%, profits almost tripled and nearly 100 new jobs were added.
Billingham’s Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is involved in the rapidly growing sector of biopharmaceuticals and works with firms in North America, Europe and Asia.
Now accounts for the company for the year ending March 31, 2019 show that its turnover rose from £81.4m to £125.9m, while operating profit went from £7.8m to £22.1m.
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The year also saw a big rise in the company’s headcount, which grew from 557 to 653.
The company, which is headed by former North East Business Executive of the Year Steve Bagshaw, helps to meet demand in the pharmaceutical sector by developing and manufacturing proteins, vaccines and antibodies, among other large molecules.
In the accounts, Mr Bagshaw outlines how sales in a number of sectors had gone from “strength to strength” during the year, though he added that the company had seen an increase in material costs as it had continued to grow.
Sales were split between a number of global locations, with more than half (£68.7m) in the Americas, while £37.5m came from continental Europe and £16m in the 海角视频. All were a big increase from the previous year.
As well as its headquarters on Teesside, the company has sites in North Carolina and Texas, in the US, plus Hillerød, in Denmark.
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Chief financial officer Mike Lyons said: “We’ve had a fantastic year which continued the upward trend we’ve been seeing in recent years for the Billingham site.
“We’ve had growth in all areas of our operations and it’s ultimately resulted in our best ever year for sales with strong profit figures at the end of it.
“That’s a testament to the really good people and the strong teams we have. Many of them have been with us for a long while and we’re really proud of what we’re creating as a bio-hub here in the North East.”
Mr Lyons said that the growth trend was continuing in the current year and the firm was investing in its operations on Teesside, including the construction of a new administrative headquarters on land next to the Billingham plant.