Drug firm sheds 280 jobs in cuts

NEARLY 280 jobs will go after the owners of Manchester drug development firm Concept Life Sciences decided to close four of its sites.

Staff were told to not go back into work this week as the sites are at risk of shutting down, including the Manchester head office. The news comes 18 months after the business was sold by private equity firm Equistone to London Stock Exchangelisted productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company, Spectris.

Staff were called to an ‘emergency meeting’ in June where they were told by Spectris that at least 200 jobs in Manchester, East Kilbride, and Braintree sites were at ‘immediate risk’ and the new owners were starting a 45-day consultation period. However, a month later the number of jobs at risk was revised and increased to 280 as the company included its Chapel-en-le-Frith site in its restructure.

In an email to the M.E.N. Business Desk, one staff member said all Manchester employees have been asked to return their keys.

The employee said: “It is widely accepted within the company that Spectris heavily overpaid by at least £40m for CLS when they purchased the group from Equistone Partners for £163m in 2018.

“Many CLS staff members feel that for business reasons, sincere efforts were not made by Spectris to sell the business. Spectris put a short timeframe on any sale, and also decided they would only sell CLS environmental testing business as an entity, despite some sites, departments, and assets being significantly more profitable than others.

“Staff have not been given any explanation of why the closure has occurred, except ‘business slowdown,’ with the head of HR, calling it a ‘perfect storm’ and ‘unlucky’ at the final staff consultation meeting. She was met with anger that staff has been given zero indication of loss making, let alone imminent closure.”

Concept Life Sciences provides integrated drug discovery, development, analytical testing and environmental consulting services to an international customer base in pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

When Spectris acquired CLS in January 2018, boss and CEO John O’Higgins, “Concept Life Sciences is a high-quality services business, which further strengthens our portfolio.”