Revenue at clinical trials group Icon projected to rise 7-10%

Revenue at clinical trials group Icon, which employs more than 1,000 people in Ireland, is projected to rise by of 7-10 per cent this year, the company has said.

The Nasdaq-listed company, which is headquartered in Dublin, said full year revenue for the year ended December 31st, 2018, will be in the range of $1.87-$1.93 billion.

Earnings per share will be in the range of $5.89 - $6.09, representing growth of 10-13 per cent.

Icon is a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Established in 1990 by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, the company employs 12,300 staff across 87 offices in 38 countries.

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Icon chief executive Steve Cutler said he expected "another strong year of revenue and earnings progression" for Icon.

“The momentum created by our positive business win trends has helped diversify our business by adding new sponsors and partnerships across all customer segments,” he said.

“Consequently we expect revenue to grow by 7-10 per cent to a range of $1.87-$1.93 billion whilst reducing our full year concentration of our largest customer to circa 12-14 per cent.

“Furthermore, by leveraging our support infrastructure, we aim to continue our best in industry cost management approach and expect earnings per share to increase by 10-13 per cent to a range of $5.89 - $6.09.

“In addition to this organic growth, we will continue to focus on deploying capital to maximise shareholder value through a combination of mergers and acquisitions, and share repurchases.”