Mid-Year Update 2021

The Directors of Huntsworth are pleased to present a mid-year update for 2021.

Trading in the first half of the year has been very strong, with all divisions growing revenues double digit. Growth has been driven by a combination of existing and new clients, supported by strong market tailwinds. Particularly strong growth has been seen in the Group’s Medical division, comprising Medistrava, the Group’s legacy medical business, and Nucleus Global, acquired in December 2020.

During the period, on 12 May, the Group’s shareholder, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (‘CD&R’), announced that it had reached agreement on the terms of a cash offer to acquire UDG Healthcare plc (‘UDG’). UDG has strong market positions in the pharma services space. Its two key business segments, Ashfield (healthcare support services) and Sharp (contract packaging services) operate in large and growing markets, underpinned by continued growth in new drug development and approvals, increasing therapeutic and drug complexity and continued outsourcing from Pharma and Biotech clients.

Ashfield and Huntsworth are highly complementary businesses which CD&R intends to combine to create a differentiated set of global solutions to support Pharma and Biotech clients across the life cycle of a drug, from development to launch and beyond patent expiry, across all therapeutic areas.

The cash offer to acquire UDG by way of scheme of arrangement was approved by the shareholders of UDG on 22 July. The scheme of arrangement was sanctioned by the Irish High Court on 9 August and the acquisition completed on 16 August 2021. Whilst Ashfield will continue to operate independently from Huntsworth for the rest of 2021, plans are underway to bring the two businesses together to create the best possible combination of talent to create the global leading healthcare services company which has major ambitions to grow further.

The Group continues to trade strongly in the second half of the year and remains comfortably compliant with the terms of its debt facilities.