PHARMACEUTICALS giant GlaxoSmithKline has announced it will invest £25 million to expand its operations in Montrose to support the delivery of its new pipeline of medicines, creating 25 jobs for process technicians, engineers and chemists.
The investment will take GSK's total workforce in Scotland to more than 750. An additional 50 contractors will be employed during the construction phase.
The latest investment is another vote of confidence in the company's Scottish operations. It follows GSK's pledge in 2012 to invest £100m to increase capacity at Montrose and at its plant at Irvine - creating around 100 jobs.
In an interview on Thursday, GSK chief financial officer Simon Dingemans flagged plans for the latest"significant" investment in the Montrose plant, but the value of this and the amount of jobs to be created were not unveiled until yesterday.
Mr Dingemans said on Thursday: "It's another sign of our continuing commitment to the (Scottish) plants and the people that we have here. We think they play a very important role and we're going to give them more things to do. We expect both plants to be playing a very important role for many years to come."
Economic development agency Scottish Enterprise said yesterday that it was backing GSK's latest expansion at Montrose by awarding Angus Council £1.5m to improve access into the site and the area around it, in addition to the £2.7m already ring-fenced by the council to support the project.
The Scottish Government said GSK was investing in "new state-of-the-art facilities and equipment" to bring production of the ingredients for four new pharmaceutical products to Montrose.
It added: "Currently, Montrose produces active ingredients for a number of medicines in important disease areas such as respiratory and HIV/Aids, while the Irvine site produces antibiotics. These ingredients and products are exported globally."
Roger Connor, president for global manufacturing and supply at GSK, said: "Our teams in Montrose and Irvine are world class and have worked hard to bring new facilities to the two sites. This investment shows how highly we value our teams in Scotland.
"Our people here in Montrose manufacture the primary ingredients that then go forward to be put in inhalers, pills, capsules and injections for patients across the globe. Montrose will work alongside our sister site in Singapore to meet international demand for some of the world's most important medicines."
He added: "Ours is a fast-moving and competitive environment and the investment should be seen as a vote of confidence in the skills, standards and drive of the people who work here."
Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "GSK's investment is testament to the skill of the Scottish workforce and illustrates the confidence international companies have in Scotland as a country to invest in."
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