Healthcare services company United Drug announced yesterday that it has recorded double digit growth in the six months to the end of March, and predicted that this strong performance will continue for the rest of the year.

In an upbeat trading statement released yesterday, the company said strong revenue growth has been achieved in each of its four divisions in the first half of its 2007 financial year.

It confirmed that the transition to the new drug pricing regime introduced in the Republic on March 1st has been well managed in its pharma wholesale division.

Meanwhile, the group's supply chain services division was boosted by the acquisition of Masta, which specialises in the sale and distribution of travel vaccines in the UK market. This recently acquired business is already performing "well ahead of expectations", the group said.

The company's medical and scientific division is also expected to report good growth when United Drug announces its interim results on May 9th. The contract sales outsourcing division is also performing well .

"The group remains positive about the fundamental dynamics driving demand for goods and services in healthcare in our core markets and about our positions within those markets," the com-pany's statement said. "The group continues to see opportunities to expand our outsourcing businesses, both organically and through acquisition."

However, investors were not inspired by yesterday's trading statement, which failed to pinpoint any specific acquisition targets.

Traders explained that United Drug's growth model relies heavily on acquisitions, and this omission caused the company's share price to drop by 1.77 per cent, or 7 cent, to €3.88.