The Almac Group, headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, with further sites across the UK and USA, is celebrating success after being named ‘Exporter of the Year’ by Northern Ireland’s economic development agency, Invest Northern Ireland.
The ‘Exporter of the Year’ award recognises outstanding export achievement and growth of a local business that has been exporting for over four years. It was one of five awards presented to local businesses as part of the Invest NI Innovation & Export Awards. The achievement comes on the back of a successful 2008 for the group with export sales generating over 70% of the company turnover.
Almac is a major contributor to the Northern Ireland economy and is becoming increasingly important as it moves towards a high-value knowledge-based economy with strong potential for further development in the Pharma and Biotech sectors.
Almac’s chief executive officer Alan Armstrong expressed pride in the recognition and said 2009 is going to be an exciting year for the company; "As a Northern Ireland-based company doing business with clients right across the globe, we have always understood the importance of developing existing export markets as well as exploring new export opportunities. This award from Invest NI is testament to the innovation of our company and the ingenuity of those working right across the Almac Group. For many years we have recognised the significance of building a balanced client portfolio right across the sector and this strategy is proving all the more important during the current downturn. We continue to recruit and have a positive outlook for the future. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to all those working at Almac who make our success possible."
