LGC reports half year trading in line with expectations
Management confirms that trading is in line with expectations, with strong momentum in the underlying base business expected to continue through the second half of the year to 31 March 2023. The sale of components supporting COVID-19 testing is expected to continue to subside through the second half of the year to 31 March 2023. Higher inflationary pressures are being mitigated through pricing actions and procurement strategies.
Key highlights for the six months to 30 September 2022
Ken Yoon appointed Executive Vice President & General Manager of LGC Standards
Effective Monday 12 September, Ken Yoon joined LGC as Executive Vice President & General Manager, LGC Standards.
Prior to LGC, Ken Yoon co-founded Fortis Life Sciences in 2020, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Fortis, he held several senior positions at MilliporeSigma over a 10-year period, most recently as Vice President and Head of the Lab & Specialty Chemicals business.
LGC’s state-of-the-art site in Oxford opened
In September, LGC opened a state-of-the-art facility at the Oxford Technology Park, which will serve both as the new home of The Native Antigen Company (TNAC), part of LGC Clinical Diagnostics, and as the host site of an advanced workflow applications laboratory for LGC Biosearch Technologies.
The laboratory was officially opened by Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE and Teresa Lambe OBE, creators of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The new site offers TNAC significantly expanded manufacturing capacity for the production of infectious disease reagents, antibodies and assays, which are vital to the development of clinical diagnostics and the study of infectious diseases. The LGC Biosearch Technologies advanced workflow applications laboratory will support customers in adopting and optimising the use of multiple LGC products, playing a critical role in helping customers to develop new diagnostic tests and treatments for disease, as well as advanced solutions for the food supply chain.
Acquisition of Rapid Genomics
In April, LGC announced the acquisition of Rapid Genomics, a provider of mid- to high-density Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) kits and services for genotyping in the agrigenomics market.
Rapid Genomics is a leading company in genotyping applications via NGS. Its Flex-Seq® Ex-L technology is provided to customers through kits and genotyping services, and allows high-throughput, cost-effective DNA analysis in plant, livestock and aquaculture genetics. This in turn enables development of more productive and resilient plants and animals, as well as food safety and animal health applications through the identification and screening of pathogens.
Divestment of Drug Development Solutions Business (“DDS”)
Alliance Pharma, a US-based Bioanalytical CRO and an Ampersand portfolio company, agreed to acquire DDS, a UK-based Bioanalytical Business Unit of LGC. KKR became an equal shareholder in the combined business alongside Ampersand Capital Partners. Backed by Ampersand and KKR, Alliance and DDS plan to expand the company’s geographic reach, broaden its laboratory capabilities and expand its service portfolio. The transaction was approved by the regulatory authorities and completed in July.
Strategic growth projects
LGC is supporting an ambitious programme of strategic growth projects to enable capability and capacity expansions, improved working conditions and a lower ongoing carbon footprint for operations. For example, the latest phase of the expansion of LGC Axolabs’ facility in Kulmbach has been completed and is now operational. And the new Toronto Research Chemicals site – a Synthetic Chemistry centre of excellence - is progressing.
Progress in ESG agenda
In August, we published our environmental, social and governance (ESG) report for FY22. This is LGC’s second ESG report using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, the most widely used sustainability reporting framework globally. LGC remains committed to being carbon net zero by 2050 and progress against this target is reported in the document.
Research and other partnerships
LGC’s experts in the NML contributed to major pieces of work, including: leading on the CCQM Roadmap to Metrology Readiness for Infectious Disease Pandemic Response to support the measurements associated with infectious disease and future pandemic readiness; publishing a paper, titled “Monkeypox: another test for PCR”, focusing on how to ensure the PCR diagnosis tests being deployed for monkeypox will be most accurate and that lessons learned on PCR testing from the COVID-19 pandemic are applied to the current epidemic.
Working with Queen’s University, Belfast, the NML also launched the Centre for Excellence in Agriculture and Food Integrity, a strategic partnership to enhance and future-proof the UK agrifood industry through the development and application of innovative scientific-measurement solutions and digital technologies for greater assurance of the sustainability, reliability, safety and productivity of inherent supply chains.
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