THE IRISH pharmaceutical company United Drug has purchased two companies in the UK for a combined total of £14.15 million (€18 million).

The companies - Universal Conference and Incentive Travel Limited and Business Edge Solutions & Training Limited - will be integrated into United Drug's contract sales and marketing services division.

United Drug is paying a combined consideration of £11.4 million (€14.5 million) in cash, with an additional payment of up to £2.75 million (€3.5 million) if earn-out targets to April 2011 are achieved.

Universal provides event management services across the UK to pharmaceutical companies, both at the pre- and post-approval stages of product development.

It also has offices in the US and generates around half of its revenues in that market through the provision of an equivalent service to US pharmaceutical companies.

Business Edge Solutions & Training Limited provides a range of personal, sales and team effectiveness training programmes for pharmaceutical companies in the UK market.

The acquisitions will provide United Drug with the opportunity to gain access to pharmaceutical client bases that are not currently clients of the contract sales and marketing services division, according to NCB analyst Paraic Quinn.

"The acquisitions are in line with United Drug's strategy to extend the contract sales and marketing services division, which contributed 14 per cent of operating profit in the year to September 2007," he said.

The deals would also help towards ameliorating the impact of a weakening sterling on next year's profit base, according to Davy analyst Jack Gorman.

In a trading statement on Thursday, United Drug warned that sterling's weakness may have an impact on profits in the second half of its fiscal year.

However, the company added that it remained on course to deliver double-digit growth in earnings. United Drug said it remained positive about the fundamentals of its core markets.