Pierre Fabre doubles dermatological cosmetics production at Soual
Expanded site creates 200 jobs
The Pierre Fabre pharmaceutical group is to double the size of its dermatological cosmetics production plant at Soual in the Tarn region of southern France. The existing plant is operating at full capacity producing the Kloran, Ducray, Elancyl and other brands. The first phase of expansion will run from now until 2013 and will comprise two manufacturing and conditioning areas. A further production unit will be constructed between 2014 and 2016. The company estimates that over 200 jobs will be created in total. The total production capacity at Soual will rise from 135 to 200 million units annually with sterile production accounting for 10% of the output of the new units. The company had earlier intended to construct a new cosmetics plant at Saint-Sulpice-sur-Tarn but the economic crisis supervened and the expansion option was adopted. The company's sales of dermatological cosmetics rose 3.2% in 2009 to €860m with 60% of output being sold on the international market. The cosmetics sector now accounts for 48% of the Fabre group's total sales and employs a workforce of 3,900 out of a total group workforce of nearly 10,000.