CRAIGAVON, NI, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Award Recognises Almac's Continued Growth Success and Presence as a World Class Player in Pharmaceutical and Biotech Services

The Almac Group, headquartered in Craigavon Northern Ireland, is celebrating another highly impressive year after being named 'Business of the Year' (for the second time in 3 years), together with other significant accolades at the Northern Ireland business awards - run by the nation's main daily newspaper, The Belfast Telegraph in association with BMI (British Midland International).

Almac was recognised for its continued excellence in the field of contract drug development and manufacturing within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, in which the Company is globally renowned as a world class services provider. This year, Almac has again gone from strength-to-strength growing significantly despite the challenging economic environment. The Company is now successfully delivering critical patient medication to over 100 countries, with 89% its GBP250million global sales coming from outside the UK - representing a 10% increase in annual revenues compared with the previous year.

Almac picked up the overall 'business of the year' accolade, in addition its Clinical Services' business unit winning 'outstanding business team of the year' for its business development and marketing activities. The team was recognised for its role in positioning Almac as a single, truly integrated services company by establishing cross selling opportunities, joint bids and integrated management approaches across the entire group. Additionally, the Company was commended for providing innovative solutions that respond to growing customer need for pharmaceutical products to be maintained under refrigerated temperatures during distribution, and for the successful export and manufacture of clinical supplies, clinical supply management, packaging and labelling of patient kits and warehousing, logistics and depot management.

Almac Group CEO Alan Armstrong expressed his pride in the recognition and said that he expected 2011 to be an exciting year for the Company:

"Winning the 2011 "outstanding business team of the year' was a great accomplishment for Almac at Northern Ireland's main business awards, but to be recognised as the Country's pre-eminent business for the second time in 3 years shows our success in achieving sustained economic growth in a competitive and challenging global economic environment."

"Our strong expansion is testament to our focus on innovation, quality and dedication of the entire team across the Almac Group. Indeed, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff for their contribution to this fantastic achievement - they are the heart of our business."

Judge Ian Murphy from Invest NI said the panel's decision to recognise Almac was made "for transforming a Northern Ireland company to a company of global stature in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors."

About Almac Group

The Almac Group provides a broad range of services from R&D, biomarker discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply and IXRS(R) technology (IVRS/IWRS), to commercial-scale manufacture. Almac provides services to more than 600 companies, including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

The company employs over 3,000 individuals and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Almac has now moved into its new North American Headquarters located in Souderton PA.

For more information about the Almac Group, please visit http://www.almacgroup.com or e-mail info@almacgroup.com

For media enquiries, please contact Tristan Jervis on: +44-207-861-3019. E-mail: t.jervis@defacto.com

SOURCE Almac Group