Clonmel drug maker Suir Pharma is going into liquidation after 40 years in business
Over 130 jobs are expected to be lost at the firm, which was taken over by a Slovakian company last year.
MORE THAN 130 jobs are expected to be lost after the appointment of a provisional liquidator to a Co Tipperary based pharmaceutical manufacturing company.
Suir Pharma Ireland Ltd, which is located at Waterford Road in Clonmel and has been making generic medicines for approximately 40 years in the town, is insolvent and is to be wound up.
At the High Court today the company cited sustained and irreversible losses of €4.9 million during the 15 months before March 2015 and a large drop in sales in the US market late last year for its difficulties. It projects further losses in both 2016 and 2017.
The court heard its parent company, Saneca Pharmaceuticals, was not willing to fund the company and it was left with no other option than to apply to the court for the appointment of a provisional liquidator.
Justice Michael Twomey said he was satisfied to appoint insolvency practitioner Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as provisional liquidator of the company.
The court also granted McAteer a number of powers, including the ability to allow the company continue to trade and to take steps to secure the company’s assets.
Barrister Declan Murphy, for the company, said in the face of losses sustained the company’s main shareholders, on the advice of Suir Pharma’s directors, had decided to wind up the operation.
The appointment of McAteer would secure and help realise the best value of the company’s assets, including its stock.
Sure Pharma's plant in Clonmel, Tipperary
Jobs lost
Counsel said there is lot of work currently being done on pharma products at the plant. The provisional liquidator would be in a position to turn this ‘work in progress’ into a saleable product.
The level of employment at the company during any process of finishing off products currently being manufactured would be a matter for the provisional liquidator, counsel added.
McAteer would also accelerate the process of locating potential buyers for the company’s site and manufacturing facility in Clonmel, counsel added. It was in the best interests of the company and its creditors that a liquidator be appointed.
Local radio station TippFM has reported staff were called into a lunchtime meeting with senior management and told their jobs were lost. Some were advised to clear out their lockers immediately, while those not on hand were asked not to come to work.
Counsel told the court that as well as the drop in sales to the US the company also encountered a quality issue with an ingredient sourced from China used in one of its products. This had prevented the company from making the product for some months, resulting in a loss of revenue.
The company, which has 134 employees, has had several owners during its existence. It was initially part of Clonmel Healthcare before being taken over by German drug manufacturer Stada.
Last year it was sold to Slovakian based group Saneca Pharmaceuticals by Munich restructuring company Mutares, which bought it from Stada, for an undisclosed sum.
In a statement at the time, Saneca said it was confident the purchase would “add significantly” to the services it could offer customers.
Company representative Lubo Soltys said his firm was “delighted” with the 2015 deal.
“For us we see the combined entity providing significantly enhanced pharmaceutical development capacity and tech transfer capabilities across a range of pharmaceutical forms which will certainly provide easier access to various markets to our worldwide customer base,” he said at the time.
The matter was adjourned until June after McAteer was appointed.
Additional reporting Peter Bodkin
