United Drug has said it is considering moving its stock market listing from Dublin to London on the back of significant growth in international operations at the pharmaceutical and healthcare services firm.
“The Board believes that FTSE UK index inclusion would result in a further increase in UK and international investor awareness of United Drug,” the company said in an interim management statement this morning, adding that there was a substantial presence of international investors on its share register.
“The Board is exploring the possibility of de-listing United Drug shares from the Irish Stock Exchange and a further announcement will be made as appropriate.”
United Drug said trading across the group during the nine month period to June has been strong, with group revenues and profits ahead of those recorded in the same period last year.
The company said the majority of the growth came from its international operations and that business outside of Ireland now accounts for 70 per cent of its profits.
United Drug said revenues and profits in its healthcare supply chain division, which provides services to pharmacies and life sciences companies, were ahead of last year's figures, despite significant healthcare austerity measures in the UK and Ireland.
“In the Republic of Ireland, while profits are down slightly, our wholesale business has again outperformed the market,” the statement added.
United Drug said it had completed three acquisitions in the last nine months that would “help to significantly grow our international footprint and further enhance our multi-country offering”.
A move to acquire the entire issued share capital of Frankfurt based group Pharmexx from the German drug distributor Celesio is expected to be completed at the end of this month.
In a statement, the Irish Stock Exchange said it had noted United Drug's announcement.
"United Drug accounts for approximately 1.1 per cent of the ISEQ index and the index will be reweighted as appropriate if the company ceases to be a constituent," it said.
