UDG Healthcare is in rude health

The former distribution business United Drug has moved into the far more lucrative and exciting area of specialist healthcare services, which means I’ll be holding on to my stake

Brendan McAtamney, chief executive of UDG Pic: Fergal Phillips

Last week, I attended the shareholder meeting of UDG Healthcare in Dublin. This is an impressive business that’s in a transition phase following decades in which it was little more than a distributor and wholesaler of pharma and pharma-related products.

Its share price had been relatively pedestrian in the years when the business was almost entirely distribution-focused – as unexciting and competitive a space as you are likely to find in the healthcare ...