Medisize to close UK moulding facility

Medical device manufacturer Medisize is closing its UK injection moulding operation at Sunderland in the north east of England and will transfer work to other European facilities.

The operation is currently being wound down, with machines being sold or transferred to other group sites. Final closure is expected at the end of April.

Seppo Arento, deputy CEO of Medisize, said: “One reason for the closure is that there had not been the demand growth rate in the UK that we had expected.” He said that the Medisize group as a whole is faring well, as shown in its latest financial results.

The UK factory was included in the 2006 sale by Perlos of its healthcare business to Swedish private equity group Ratos. Ratos renamed the business Medifiq Healthcare and then went on to add the Medisize business through an acquisition in March last year. Medifiq was then renamed Medisize, comprising manufacturing plants in Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, as well as the UK plant.

Ratos, which owns 97% of Medisize, said the latter had sales of SKr1.02bn (€93m) in 2008, up from Skr 953m (€86m) in 2007. But EBITA was down from Skr27m (€3m) in 2007 to Skr18m (€2m) in 2008. Acquisition and restructuring costs incurred a charge of SKr 41m (€4m).

Medisize is currently benefiting from an extension of moulding work for Sanofi-Aventis. The company has extended capacity at its plant in Kontiolahti, Finalnd, for production of insulin injection pen components.

Medisize CEO Willem van den Bruinhorst said: "The order for new production equipment is very important for Medisize. It confirms that our in-house tooling and automation expertise combined with excellent project management skills and experience are highly appreciated by our key customers.”

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