The main Irish manufacturing arm of Hong Kong-listed biopharma group WuXi Biologics last year recorded “expected” operating losses of €72.6 million.
In 2023, Wuxi Biologics Ireland Ltd continued in its start-up phase culminating in its first engineering batches for a client at its Dundalk plant.
This resulted in revenue increasing from €16.1 million to €100.2 million.
The pretax losses of €86.7 million take account of finance costs of €14 million and the pretax loss is an increase on the pretax losses of €6.9 million in 2022.
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The directors describe the firm’s main activity as providing manufacturing services to customers involved in the biologics industry globally.
Numbers employed at its Dundalk campus increased from 401 to 607 as staff costs increased sharply to €49.8 million.
During 2023, the Irish unit received a capital injection of €410 million as it continued to invest in its Dundalk facility.
This strengthened the company’s balance sheet with shareholder funds rising from €799.3 million to €1.12 billion.
According to the directors, the focus for 2023 was to complete commissioning, qualification and validation of the MFG7 manufacturing suite. They add that the focus for the MFG6 manufacturing suite “was on completing engineering batches for our first client product”.
The directors state that the 2023 operating loss “was expected and driven by the ramp up of the facility”.
On the company’s future developments, the directors state that during 2024 the company will complete the commissioning, qualification and validation of MFG6.2, “which will be dedicated to an existing client, thereby doubling their manufacturing capacity”.
Louth County Council recently granted the firm planning permission for a 3MW wind turbine to help power the Dundalk campus.
In planning documentation lodged with the application, the company states that the wind-turbine will supply about 20 per cent of the plant’s electricity while also contributing to annual CO2 emissions reduction.
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