Penn’s contract manufacturing figures represent a 53% increase against the same period last year, with overall sales for its key outsourced services at £8.57m to March 2005, up 30% on the previous year. Significant projects for key European and US clients have supplemented strong performances in clinical trials supply and QP consultancy since the implementation of the EU Clinical Trials Directive in May last year. Penn’s CEO Craig Rennie commented; "Growth has remained strong since our second MBO in December last year and the resurgence of the contract manufacturing division has been a major factor. The QP consultancy side of the business has proved another success story with comprehensive audits carried out for clients in the US, Canada and Japan in recent months". "We have continued to invest in our facilities since the first MBO, with new equipment brought in to support formulation and analytical development activity and stability testing capacity has now doubled in size. Manufacturing capability has recently been expanded to allow us to offer a full range of batch size production. This investment, along with the implementation of strategic staff training and development plans, has enabled us to stay at the forefront of contract development and manufacturing and continue to expand our client base." The management team at Penn completed its first MBO in 2000, with private equity house Gresham Trust retaining a 55% holding. This holding was reduced to 25% as part of last December’s Secondary MBO and Penn’s increased focus on its outsourced pharmaceutical development and manufacturing service offering.