Searle Company Limited (SEARL) announced on Thursday that it has earned approval from the UAE ministry, and registered its manufacturing facility in the Middle Eastern country.

The company announced the development in its notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.

“Searle Company Limited proudly announces that the Ministry of Health and Prevention, United Arab Emirates has approved and registered the manufacturing site of the company,” it said.

The company informed that it is expanding rapidly in several regions of the world including South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Francophone Africa, GCC, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Canada, Europe and Latin America (EU&LATAM) etc.

“Searle became the first pharmaceutical company of Pakistan to enter UAE by getting its manufacturing facility registered,” Tahir Ahmed, Managing Director at Searle, had announced in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.

“This will InshaAllah set a trend in Pakistan to go into stringent regulatory markets where margins are high,” he added.

Incorporated in Pakistan as a private limited company in 1965, Searle was later converted into a public limited company. The principal activity of the company is the manufacturing and sale of pharmaceutical, consumer health, and nutritional products.

During 9MFY23, Searle’s topline boasted a 28% year-on-year rise, yet, it couldn’t trickle down to produce a bottom-line growth.

A significant Pak Rupee depreciation, increase in global commodity prices as well as increased fuel cost resulted in a 40% cost increase which pushed the gross profit margin down to 46% from 51% during the same period last year.