Wolverhampton-based Eurofins in £18 million laboratories deal

Eurofins, the food testing firm with its UK base in Wolverhampton, is spending £18 million on buying a string of laboratories from industrial testing giant Exova.

The company has expanded in the UK and Ireland by snapping up 10 laboratories, which test food, water and pharmaceutical products, The deal is expected to be completed later this month.

The laboratories employ more than 300 staff and are expected to generate revenues in excess of £17m this year. Eurofins employs about 170 people at its major laboratory on the i54 site in Wolverhampton.

The group, founded in France employs 23,000 people in 39 countries.

Chief executive Dr Gilles Martin said: "These laboratories represent a good strategic fit for Eurofins as they reinforce our food and water testing footprint in the UK and Ireland and give us a foothold to roll-out our globally-renowned competencies in pharmaceutical products testing in the UK, where we did not yet have a laboratory in this business line.

"I believe that this transaction is positive for both Eurofins and Exova as it enables each party to focus its resources on their core areas.

"By enabling more focused investments and access to a global portfolio of tests and technologies, as well as higher economies of scale, this should also be a very positive development for clients and other stakeholders in the UK and Ireland."

Exova's three food testing laboratories provide safety testing with a strong competence in microbiology, as well as nutritional analysis, for both food manufacturers and retailers, whilst the five water testing laboratories serve local authorities and consultants.

Eurofins says buying these reinforces its distribution channel for its wide range of analytical services.

In return, the laboratories will have access to the entire Eurofins portfolio of services and infrastructure, and benefit from the group's logistical network, helping them win a bigger share of their local markets.

The deal also includes two specialist laboratories offering quality control analytical services to medium to large pharmaceutical clients.

The deal, for a cash consideration of around £18m, consists of a portfolio of ten laboratories across the UK and Ireland which provide a wide range of chemistry and microbiological testing services.

The three sectors, along with its environment business, form Exova's health sciences division, but the latter was not included in the sale; the company has made three acquisitions in the UK environmental sector in the last two years, as it bids to combat the slowdown in oil and gas.

Exova's Food, Water and Pharmaceutical business in the UK and Ireland generated revenues of around £20m in 2015 from total revenue of £296.5m.