Saturday, January 12, 2008
Drugmaker to expand Bedford Co. plant
Barr Laboratories Inc. wants to hire about 100 to 150 people over the next five years.
The latest from The Ticker blog
Drugmaker Barr Laboratories Inc. said it will spend $62 million and hire up to 150 people to expand manufacturing and packaging lines at its large plant in Bedford County.
Virginia anticipates defraying $1.4 million of the costs through a series of grants.
Gov. Tim Kaine called Barr, with 500 Bedford County employees already and a local history dating to 1996, the county's "largest and strongest company."
The plant, in Forest, has long occupied a prominent place in the company's operations.
At 375,000 square feet, it is the company's largest facility and U.S. distribution hub. No new square footage is planned, but Barr will add equipment.
Barr's parent company, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Montvale, N.J., is absorbing a Croatian drug firm, PLIVA d.d., bought in late 2006.
That step entails, in part, closing a PLIVA plant in New Jersey and moving certain operations to Forest, Barr spokeswoman Carol Cox said.
Although about a third of PLIVA's 350 workers at that location found other jobs at Barr, the rest face being laid off, she said.
New Jersey's loss is Virginia's gain.
Cox said Barr's Forest plant during 2007 added 50 of the additional 150 to 200 workers it expects to need for the expansion.
The rest will be added within five years, she said. The positions include packaging line workers, warehouse workers and chemists.
Barr Pharmaceuticals said it earned $38.9 million, or 37 cents a share, on revenue of $601.4 million, during the three months ended Sept. 30. Shares of the company on the New York Stock Exchange closed 10 cents lower Friday at $54.96.
