MSP releases figures for ‘another successful year’

The latest financial announcement from Bruntwood’s Manchester Science Partnerships said that the business experienced a 72% increase in profits from its Corridor Manchester operations, up from £870,000 in 2014 to £1.5m in 2015, while managing a £1m loss at Alderley Park.

MSP is a Manchester-based public-private partnership and the UK’s largest science parks operator.

The Corridor Manchester figures are made up of MSP Ltd, which posted pre-tax profits of £996,000 in 2014, which dipped to £786,000 this year, but were boosted by figures from its subsidiary Citylabs Ltd, which recorded a pre-tax profit this year of £722,000, compared to 2014’s loss of £127,000.

The net worth of MSP Ltd increased by 13% from £35.6m to £40.4m during the year.

According to MSP, profit growth in the Manchester business was driven by the first full year contribution from Citylabs, which completed in 2014. This was partially offset by an increase in overheads in MSP associated with building the business and preparing it for further growth and expansion.

Citylabs reached full occupation within 15 months of opening, and MSP is currently on site with No1 MSP Central in its Manchester campus.

MSP is also the owner of Alderley Park in Cheshire, the 400-acre science park formerly occupied by AstraZeneca.

According to MSP, Alderley Park is currently operating at a £2.7m loss, which is in line with expectations.

MSP said: “We are very pleased with the performance of Alderley Park and it is performing in line with the plan. AstraZeneca is undertaking a phased exit from the site and strong progress is being made with lettings to new occupiers, the latest being the relocation of the Redx Pharma headquarters to the site. MSP is committed to creating a sustainable globally important bioscience campus and this will take time. We have always planned on the basis that we would see operating losses in the early years, which is why there is currently a £2.7m loss in Alderley, MSP’s share being £1m.

“Outline planning consent was recently approved for development at the Park which will see it re-purposed as a multi-occupier campus, accommodating biotech and life science businesses in an open innovation environment.”

New lettings across MSP’s portfolio for the last 12 months include Innovate UK, the national innovation agency, which selected Alderley Park as the centre for a new Medicines Discovery Catapult, which will work with businesses from across the UK to accelerate the development of new medicines.

Citylabs will be a regional centre for another national catapult, on Precision Medicine, designed to develop treatments which are tailored to the different characteristics of individual patients.

In his March budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced that Alderley Park would be the home for a new national centre, dedicated to finding alternative treatments for diseases which have become resistant to existing antibiotics.

Another national win was the successful bid against 33 other cities for £10m of Innovate UK funding to create a large-scale Internet of Things demonstrator within Manchester’s Innovation District. The IOT is a technology revolution with the potential to transform industries, governments, and cities.

The Manchester project, called CityVerve, will demonstrate the power of IoT technologies to revolutionise and improve city services across health and social care, transport and mobility, energy and environment, culture and the public realm. CityVerve will take advantage of the new integrated powers and responsibilities created by devolution in Manchester, and brings together an ambitious multi-sector consortium, including global industry partners, leading UK universities, public sector agencies and innovative SMEs.

MSP will provide headquarters for CityVerve at No 1 MSP Central, which will also be home to the CityVerve incubator and services support centre for businesses using the demonstrator.

MSP’s shareholders are Bruntwood, University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester, Cheshire East and Salford City Councils.

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