Prestigious business award for Mayo man Ger Rabbette

A Mayo man has been named the Irish Times Business Person of the Year for September.

Ger Rabbette, a native of Fortfield, Castlebar, and chief executive of the fast-growing pharmaceuticals services group Uniphar, was selected for the accolade in an initiative run in conjunction with Bank of Ireland.

Uniphar defied the Covid-19 pandemic to deliver a 31 per cent surge in profits to €134.3 million in results for the first half of the year, announced in September.

Ger delivered an increase in operating margin across the business – to 13.9 per cent from 11.8 per cent at the same time last year – on revenues of €964.9 million, up 10.7 per cent.

The performance was driven by acquisition, a hallmark of Mr. Rabbette's leadership of the business since it floated on the stock exchange back in 2019.

The group announced the purchase of the New York-headquartred Best MSLs Group, which provides outsourced medical affairs services, shortly ahead of its results in a deal reported to be worth €30.2 million.

It is seen as increasing Uniphar's presence in the strategically important US market.

This followed Uniphar's entry in Europe's largest medtech market with the purchase of the German group, CoRRect Medical, in mid-July in a deal said to be worth about €25 million.

Uniphar now accounts for over one-fifth of the retail pharmacy market in the Republic of Ireland – but it is its international business that is expected to lead the charge to future growth.