Health concerns have been raised over plans to open the UK’s first plastic film recycling facility.
Endolys Ltd announced plans to install pyrolysis oil production units at the former Cleveland Bridge site in Darlington, which it has taken over.
Liberal Democrat campaigner Simon Thorley has launched a petition calling for plans to be halted, over concerns about the impact of a plant which “chemically breaks down plastic waste in the middle of our community”.
A spokesman for Endolys said the process used diverted “materials away from incineration and landfill” and the appropriate environmental permits would be sought.
Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process that can chemically break down plastic into its constituent oil and gas, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Mr Thorley, who previously stood as a Tees Valley mayoral candidate, said he did not believe this was a “simple, safe recycling plant”.
“Google what a plastics pyrolysis plant does and make your own mind up,” he said.
“I’ve made mine up, and we can’t allow it here.”
Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen disputed the claims and praised the impact the new facility would have on jobs and investment in the region.
He said turning a disused site into “good quality jobs for local people” was “exactly the kind of project our area needs”.
Endolys said plastic film was one of the most challenging plastic materials to recycle in the UK, with no current large-scale recycling facilities available and limited kerbside collection.
The first phase of the development would see six units process 60,000 tonnes of shredded plastic film waste into 40,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil each year.
All of the film waste will be sourced from municipal waste facilities.
A spokesman explained the process took place within “fully enclosed vessels and within a building”.
They added: “It does not involve combustion and, in fact, diverts materials away from incineration and landfill, delivering an estimated 170,000 tonnes of CO2 savings per year.”
Seven new illnesses and two additional deaths have been reported in multistate Listeria outbreak tied to prepared pasta meals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday in updates.
A total of 27 people in 18 states have been infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes, with 25 hospitalizations and 6 deaths. One pregnancy-associated infection resulted in fetal loss. Deaths have been reported in Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, and Utah.
The illness-onset dates range from August 6, 2024, to October 16, 2025. Patient ages range from 4 to 92 years, with a median age of 74 years. Two thirds of patients are women.
Infections linked to pre-cooked pasta
The outbreak has been linked to prepared meals that include pre-cooked pasta made by Nate’s Fine Foods, which does not sell its products directly to consumers. On September 30, the company expanded its recall of certain lots of pre-cooked pasta after a sample of linguini collected from a frozen meal made by FreshRealm tested positive for the outbreak strain of Listeria. The strain matched one identified earlier in pasta from a FreshRealm chicken alfredo meal.
According to the CDC, of the 13 people who have been interviewed by state and local public health officials, 7 reported eating precooked meals purchased from Walmart and Kroger, and 4 specifically reported chicken fettucine alfredo. Two people also reported eating deli salads from other stores.
Among the products that have been recalled are Sprouts Farmers Market Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad, Scott & Jon’s Shrimp Scampi with Linguini Bowls, and Trader Joe’s Cajun Style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettucine Alfredo.
“CDC and states are working to get information on whether sick people ate recalled food or if additional foods may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes,” the FDA said. “Consumers should double check their refrigerators and freezers for recalled foods.”
The FDA said the company is working with the agency and its customers to determine if additional recalls are needed.
Listeriosis primarily affects older people, young children, those with compromised immune systems, and pregnant women. In pregnant women, even mild illness can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth.
SOREL-TRACY, Québec — Rio Tinto and Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF) are pleased to announce a transaction to advance the Canadian production of scandium oxide in Sorel-Tracy, Québec at the facility under construction at Rio Tinto’s Critical Minerals and Metallurgical Complex. CGF will invest approximately C$25 million to support production at North America’s sole facility capable of supplying this material, expanding the facility’s nameplate capacity to nine tonnes per annum and strengthening Canada’s critical minerals supply chain.
Scandium is a rare and strategically important metal, essential for high-performance aluminium alloys, solid oxide fuel cells, and a range of new and emerging technologies. Its significance lies in its role as an enabling element, enhancing the performance of materials and technologies beyond conventional limits. Scandium’s strategic importance will continue to grow as global industries advance toward electrification, carbon neutrality, and the utilization of high-performance materials.
Today, the global market for scandium remains small with China producing most refined scandium globally. Rio Tinto’s demonstration plant, which began production in 2022, currently accounts for the entirety of North American scandium supply and is one of the few meaningful sources of supply within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Through the successful deployment of the demonstration plant, Rio Tinto is established a scalable, reliable, and sustainable source of scandium for North America.
Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium and Diamonds Managing Director Sophie Bergeron said: “Rio Tinto is pleased to partner with CGF and the Government of Canada to expand our Canadian production of scandium oxide, a high-performance material used for advanced manufacturing and energy generation. This project leverages an innovative process developed in Canada by our scientists, fully supplied from our domestic mining and metallurgical assets to provide a secure, North American supply of this critical mineral.”
Canada Growth Fund Investment Management President and Chief Executive Officer Yannick Beaudoin said: “With its unique investment mandate, CGF invests into innovative transaction structures that directly support projects of strategic priorities. This transaction, completed alongside an established operating partner, enables us to unlock new models for risk-sharing and value creation that advance Canada’s supply chain resilience strategy. Our commitment to the Project demonstrates how targeted investment and disciplined structuring can deliver tangible benefits for the Canadian industry and economy.”
PSP Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah K. Orida said: “We are delighted to bring PSP Investments’ rigorous investment process, depth of expertise and arm’s length governance model to the execution of CGF’s mandate. With today’s announcement, CGF continues to provide innovative solutions that enable the development of important projects, improving Canada’s investment climate, and contributing to PSP’s foresight on the evolution of the critical minerals supply chain.”
Rio Tinto has pioneered a breakthrough process to extract and produce high-purity scandium directly from the waste streams of titanium dioxide production at its Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium — Québec operations, eliminating the need for additional mining and minimizing environmental impact. Recognized as a critical mineral by Canada, the United States, Australia, and other jurisdictions, scandium is globally dispersed yet typically occurs in very small concentrations, intricately bound with other minerals and metals, rendering its extraction and refinement both technically challenging and cost prohibitive.
It is the most effective known microalloying element for strengthening aluminium, imparting enhanced flexibility, heat and corrosion resistance, and reduced weight, attributes that confer strategic advantages for defense platforms and lightweight vehicle manufacturing. Its unique properties also elevate the performance of solid oxide fuel cells, which are increasingly deployed as alternative power solutions for buildings, medical facilities, and data centers.
Transaction Highlights
CGF’s investment of approximately C$25 million will be made through an equity-like financial royalty structure.
In connection with this investment, the Government of Canada (GoC) has agreed to enter into two commercial agreements with the Project and Rio Tinto:
An offtake agreement with Rio Tinto whereby the GoC commits to purchase a volume of scandium;
A marketing and storage agreement, under which Rio Tinto will assist with marketing and storing the scandium on behalf of the GoC.
Contacts
Please direct all enquiries to media.enquiries@riotinto.com
Media Relations, Canada
Simon Letendre M +1 514 796 4973
Rio Tinto plc
6 St James’s Square London SW1Y 4AD United Kingdom T +44 20 7781 2000
Registered in England No. 719885
Rio Tinto Limited
Level 43, 120 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 Australia T +61 3 9283 3333
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Africa’s stocks, bonds and currencies are leading the hottest streak for emerging markets in years after record metals prices, a weaker US dollar and painful economic and currency reforms paid off for the continent’s investors.
South African, Nigerian, Kenyan and Moroccan stocks have returned at least 40 per cent this year in US dollar terms, ahead of a 31 per cent dollar gain for an MSCI emerging-market share gauge that is itself the strongest since 2017.
This year’s $5tn boost in the MSCI benchmark’s market value to $26tn has been dominated by Asian chipmaker and technology shares as part of the global frenzy for artificial intelligence stocks.
Yet the rising concentration of these bets has led some investors to call for diversifying into markets that were on the global sidelines for most of the past decade, but which boast old-fashioned, emerging-market exposure to commodity, consumer and banking stocks.
“You have really had a new dawn for Africa, with the main tailwind being strong commodity prices” along with the fading of a series of defaults and devaluations since 2022, said James Johnstone, co-head of emerging and frontier markets at Redwheel.
“We think that the world is very fully invested in digital assets and the diversification that comes from real assets [such as African commodity stocks] is becoming a more important part of people’s portfolios,” Johnstone said.
The biggest overall percentage gains have been in smaller African markets that were grappling with financial collapse and runaway inflation just a few years ago, and this year faced US trade barriers and the withdrawal of aid.
Ghana’s and Zambia’s stock markets have more than doubled in US dollar terms as prices for gold and copper, their biggest exports, hit records this year and lifted their recovery from debt defaults earlier this decade.
Farouk Miah, investment manager at All Africa Partners, a London-based asset manager, said: “The global market is seeing that these markets are putting in place reforms that are yielding results and translating to stable FX and equities doing well.”
The Ghanaian cedi, Zambian kwacha and Congolese franc are up by a quarter to a third against the dollar this year in spot terms, behind only the Russian rouble in global currency rankings. Annual inflation in Zambia fell to the lowest in more than two years this month, at just below 12 per cent, while Ghana’s inflation rate has dropped into single digits.
The Nigerian naira has been stable for more than a year after wild oscillations to record lows last year, following two devaluations that plunged its value more than 70 per cent against the dollar.
The dollar debts of African governments have also rallied this year with most now trading at yields of less than 10 per cent, a level that makes new borrowing prohibitively expensive.
Kenya and Angola recently sold bonds to refinance debts that had looked difficult to roll over last year. Senegal is the biggest quandary for debt investors, as the West African nation is in talks with the IMF over the fallout from a hidden loan scandal, with its bond yields at about 13 per cent.
South African and Nigerian domestic government bonds have outperformed the 16 per cent gain in a JPMorgan index of local currency emerging-market debt this year that has also been the best in years.
South Africa and Nigeria were removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s money laundering so-called “grey list” last month, a relief for banks and investors on top of other structural reforms in both countries.
The yield on South Africa’s 10-year rand debt has fallen from more than 11 per cent at the peak of April’s global tariff panic to less than 9 per cent, the lowest since 2018. Investors have bet the country’s central bank will succeed in lowering an official inflation target to 3 per cent from the current 3 per cent to 6 per cent, which some estimate could eventually anchor yields much lower than at present.
African stock markets have ridden high on past commodity booms only to fall back again, epitomised by Nigeria over the past decade.
Despite this year’s strong performances, Johnstone at Redwheel said the number of global funds dedicated to African markets had fallen in recent years, with the “vast majority” of this year’s activity being driven by local investors. They have shifted cash from high-yielding domestic bonds into stocks such as banks that remain valued at low multiples, he said.
“You have seen a very dramatic rise in some of these stock markets, but they remain dramatically cheap and dramatically under-owned” by global investors, he said.
Scale matters for telecoms companies. Competitive pricing and heavy spending on network infrastructure means tight margins, and London’s big three telecoms companies, BT, Vodafone and Airtel Africa, all face the same pressure to build vast customer bases.
Partly for historical reasons, and with a fixed-line infrastructure to manage and develop, BT’s focus has largely remained on its home market. In recent years it has invested billions rolling out new-generation fibre broadband, a project that is finally nearing completion.
Its mobile-focused rival Vodafone, however, has never been tied down by any such obligations and has instead channelled its energy into international expansion. This strategy has left it with a strong presence in Europe and Africa, where it first established a presence around three decades ago.
Africa has since become a key engine of growth, delivering 20 per cent of Vodafone’s group revenues. The company is one of the continent’s largest telecommunications providers, along with rival Airtel Africa. It has the edge on Vodafone in Africa with customer numbers there approaching 170mn.
Both Vodafone and Airtel have followed the demographics. Africa has a young, growing population and a relatively under-developed internet infrastructure that means a high reliance on smartphones and soaring demand for data and phone-based payment services.
These latter two segments in particular represent promising areas of growth and both businesses offer mobile based payment platforms enabling secure financial transactions by phone. Vodafone’s money transfer business accounts for almost 30 per cent of its African revenues and is growing fast.
Airtel’s mobile money platform is also a high-growth, high-margin division. So much so that management, which holds the majority of the shares, intends to float it as a standalone company. But investors should note that without the mobile money business, Airtel Africa’s revenue growth is likely to slow considerably.
HOLD: Airtel Africa (AAF)
The market responded positively to Airtel Africa’s half-year figures, which detailed a surge in net profits, up from $79mn (£59.4mn) to $376mn, writes Mark Robinson.
The Africa-focused telecoms group revealed that the planned IPO of its Airtel Money unit remains on track for the first half of next year.
Airtel saw growth in its customer base across all segments, with an overall increase equivalent to 11 per cent. Mobile services revenue grew by 23.1 per cent in constant currency.
Cost efficiency savings contributed to a one-third increase in cash profits to $1.45bn and an accompanying 30 basis point increase in the underlying margin to 48.5 per cent.
Citi gives an enterprise value/ebitda ratio of 5.5 times, falling to 4.6 times in 2027.
Beyond the solid financials, Airtel marked a year of strong operational progress, as evidenced by expanding fibre infrastructure and 5G capabilities. The group’s forward rating is undemanding relative to peers, but the hefty debt pile, questions over the Airtel Money spin-off and a limited free float keep us on the sidelines.
BUY: C&C Group (CCR)
C&C Group joined the ranks of consumer goods companies that have flagged a difficult market backdrop on interim results day, writes Erin Withey.
While revenues at the Dublin-based company dropped slightly, the owner of the Tennents lager and Magners cider brands reported an otherwise resilient set of half-year numbers, having managed to reduce operating costs by €43mn (£37.7mn) for the period.
The board reaffirmed its intention to distribute €150mn to shareholders through dividends and buybacks by 2027. The company also announced that a further €15mn share buyback programme was completed in September. This was underpinned by strong free cash flow, which showed a marked improvement from €12mn at the previous half-year to €35mn.
The shares are trading on 12.5 times forward earnings according to FactSet, which presents a slight discount to the group’s historic five-year average. With good cash conversion and a solid grip on cost discipline, we are cautiously optimistic about long-term prospects.
HOLD: Ultimate Products (ULTP)
The housewares group behind Salter is battling weaker sales, writes Valeria Martinez.
Ultimate Products has cut its dividend by half after profits fell sharply, hit by slower sales from the end of the air fryer boom. The maker of Salter kitchenware and Beldray home appliances said adjusted ebitda declined by 31 per cent to £13mn in the year to July 31, as margins were squeezed by higher shipping and labour costs and a shift in sales mix.
Revenue fell 3 per cent to £150mn, with the air fryer category down 32 per cent. Core branded sales have barely grown, edging from £110mn to £112mn over the past three years. Management is focusing on building brand equity, with its own labels making up 81 per cent of total revenue. Excluding air fryers and clearance sales, turnover rose 6 per cent and international sales jumped 20 per cent.
The shares have more than halved over the past year and now trade at just 7.8 times earnings, below their five-year average. A commitment to own-brand sales should be positive in the long term, but with no near-term catalyst for a consumer rebound, the shares look fairly priced.
The latest results from Coinbase got only a slight boost from the firm’s partnerships with big banks, but it’s that unit that has Wall Street so optimistic on the crypto platform for the long term. The company’s stock rose 9% on Friday, just one day after Coinbase posted revenue of $1.87 billion for the third quarter, topping analysts’ estimates of $1.8 billion, per FactSet data. The cryptocurrency exchange’s topline grew as it partnered with financial giants like J.P. Morgan and PNC — an emerging focal point of its corporate strategy. Coinbase is “fast becoming the AWS of Crypto financial infrastructure as big banks such as JPM, Citi, PNC choose Coinbase as their Crypto partner,” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani said Friday in a note to clients, referring to Amazon’s juggernaut cloud unit. In late July, Coinbase announced it would integrate its institutional-grade Crypto-as-a-Service platform into PNC, enabling the bank to let clients to buy, hold and sell digital assets. Later that month, the digital assets company also unveiled several offerings in partnership with J.P. Morgan, including a system to link Chase bank accounts to Coinbase wallets as well as options to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to accounts on the crypto platform and fund those accounts using Chase credit cards. The agreements underscore traditional finance players’ growing embrace of digital assets — a shift that is poised to fuel Coinbase’s growth over the next few years, analysts said. Here’s what else Wall Street’s biggest sell-side shops had to say about Coinbase’s bank partnerships. Bernstein The investment firm has an outperform rating on Coinbase and a $510 price target on shares, implying 55% upside. “Coinbase is executing on its crypto dream, where blockchain rails would re-architect capital markets, banking and payments,” Bernstein analysts said Friday in their note. “Overall, we believe Coinbase is on the path of a generational business buildout and its fate is not just simply driven by crypto price action,” they added. Barclays The investment firm has an equal-weight rating on Coinbase. Its price target for the stock is $357.00 per share, suggesting 8.7% upside. “Management struck a confident tone across a number of ongoing initiatives including payments, exchanges, capital formation, and more,” Barclays analysts said Friday in a note to clients. “On the payments side, the company highlighted a huge B2B opportunity, particularly regarding cross-border payments, and noted a number of recent new partnerships, such as that with Citi.” Needham The firm has a buy on Coinbase shares. It also has a $400 price target on the stock, implying 21.8% upside. “Mgmt is seeing strong demand for COIN’s stablecoin infrastructure and solutions,” Needham analysts said Friday in a note to clients. “COIN continues to win mandates for partnerships with large enterprises (eg. Citi, Blackrock) and are seeing greater interest from small and medium businesses.” Rosenblatt The investment firm has a buy rating on Coinbase and a $470 price target on the stock, implying 43.1% upside. “Over 1,000 businesses are already onboarded to stablecoin payments, with another 1,000 on the wait list. Partnerships with Citi, Stripe, PayPal, Revolut, Webull, and Shopify highlight Coinbase’s role as the on-chain payments gateway.”
Linde ‘s earnings beat Friday couldn’t overcome a cash flow miss and softer guidance. Shares of the industrial gas giant are down 2%. Revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 increased roughly 3% versus the year-ago period, coming in at $8.62 billion, edging out the $8.61 billion consensus estimate compiled by LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share rose nearly 7% year over year to $4.21, exceeding the $4.18 expected, according to LSEG. Linde Why we own it: The industrial gas supplier and engineering firm has a stellar track record of consistent earnings growth. Its exposure to a wide range of industries, such as health care and electronics, and geographies — paired with excellent executive leadership and disciplined capital management — has been a recipe for steady success that should continue. Competitors: Air Liquid e and Air Products Most recent buy : Dec. 18, 2024 Initiated : Feb. 18, 2021 Bottom line Cash flow and guidance misses are pressuring shares. Linde’s third-quarter operating cash flow was $2.948 billion, representing an 8% increase over the previous year’s performance. However, it was short of the Wall Street consensus of $2.96 billion. Likewise, the company’s fourth-quarter projection for adjusted EPS was cautious, with management expecting $4.10 to $4.20, versus analysts’ estimates of $4.23. The full-year guide was also conservative, which aligns with management’s typical strategy. We are less concerned. We value Linde for its stability. As a supplier of industrial gases to many key economic industries — including health care, food and beverage, electronics, manufacturing, chemicals and energy, and metals and mining — along with only having a few competitors, Linde has the kind of pricing power that allows it to grow earnings year after year, no matter the backdrop. During the earnings call with investors, CFO Matthew White stated that the company remains cautious in its outlook and admits to finding it “difficult to identify near-term catalysts which could materially improve industrial activity for the remainder of 2025.” However, he added, this “does not negate [Linde’s] ability to generate shareholder value.” White pointed out that during the challenging global economic backdrop of the past two years, Linde grew operating cash and EPS by mid to high single digits while contractually securing a record-high, high-quality project backlog. “Looking ahead, if conditions worsen, we’re prepared to take appropriate mitigating actions,” White said. “And when things recover, we’re well positioned to capitalize.” Linde’s sale of gas backlog ended the quarter at $7.1 billion, maintaining record levels, while its sale of plant backlog (tied to the engineering segment) closed out the quarter at $2.9 billion, resulting in a total backlog of $10 billion. The backlog is an important indicator of future financial performance. “The backlog that we have under execution, obviously, is a strong input into continued EPS growth that we are likely to see into next year and beyond,” CEO Sanjiv Lamba said. “So expect that for sure.” Given Linde’s ability to consistently grow earnings even under difficult macroeconomic conditions thanks to its contractual business model, we reiterate our $500 price target. We are also maintaining our 2 rating despite shares being down this year. We don’t have a near-term catalyst that would warrant adding shares at this time. LIN 1Y mountain Linde 1-Year return Commentary From an industry end markets perspective, Linde recognized year-over-year sales across the board. On the consumer front, which tends to be more resilient, Linde achieved a 1% year-over-year increase in health-care sales, a 3% rise in food and beverage sales, and a 6% advance in electronics sales. Looking at the more cyclical, industrial-oriented end markets, sales into the manufacturing sector increased 3% year over year, while sales into both the chemicals and energy, as well as the metals and mining end markets, were all up 1% compared to the year-ago period. On a sequential basis, all consumer-related end markets were higher, whereas on the industrial front, a sequential increase in manufacturing and a decline in chemicals and energy. Metals and mining sales were flat sequentially. Sales for Linde’s Americas segment rose 6% year over year to $3.85 billion, driven by a 3% increase in price/mix and a 1% gain in volume. Management highlighted volume growth in the electronics , metals & mining, and manufacturing end markets. Asia Pacific (APAC) sales increased 1% year over year, as a 1% headwind from price/mix and 1% negative currency impact were more than offset by a 3% benefit from M & A activity. Increased volumes in the electronics and chemicals & energy end markets were offset by lower industrial activity in the South Pacific. Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) sales increased 3% as currency and price/mix tailwinds were partially offset by a 1% headwind from cost pass-through dynamics and lower volumes driven by softness in the metals & mining , manufacturing , and chemicals & energy end markets. Sales for engineering , which Linde reports as an operating segment alongside the regional results, fell 15% year over year. However, thanks to strong margin performance, operating profit declined by only 6% compared to the year-ago period. Guidance Linde tightened its full-year outlook around the previously provided midpoint. However, it guided fourth-quarter earnings to a level below what the Street’s projection. For its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter, Linde expects adjusted EPS to be between $4.10 and $4.20, representing a 3% to 6% increase (1% to 4% excluding currency fluctuations) over the prior year period. However, this is below the $4.24 LSEG consensus estimate. Full-year 2025 adjusted earnings guidance is now $16.35 to $16.45 per share, a tightening around the midpoint versus the prior range of $16.30 to $16.50 per share. This represents annual growth of 5% to 6% and compares to a consensus estimate of $16.45, according to LSEG. Linde reiterated that full-year capital expenditures are expected to be between $5 billion and $5.5 billion, supporting both growth and maintenance. At the midpoint, the capital expenditure assumptions exceeded the $5.08 billion expected. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long LIN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Amgen executives and local members of the community recently gathered at the company’s global headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new state-of-the-art center for science and innovation. The $600 million investment, announced in September 2025, will bring together researchers, engineers and scientists across disciplines to enhance collaboration and accelerate the discovery of life-changing therapeutics for patients with serious diseases.
“Today’s groundbreaking is a marker of what comes next in our mission to serve patients,” said Amgen CEO Bob Bradway at the event. “With the first shovel in the ground we’re reaffirming something essential: We discover here, we manufacture here, we deliver for patients from Thousand Oaks to all around the world.”
Since 2017, Amgen has invested more than $40 billion in U.S. manufacturing and R&D, including nearly $5 billion in domestic capital projects. In addition to this expansion in California, Amgen has recently announced investments in North Carolina, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. The enactment of pro-growth tax policies has further facilitated Amgen’s ability to invest domestically in cutting-edge science and manufacturing.
Continued Innovation, More Jobs in Thousand Oaks
Amgen was founded in Thousand Oaks, a nearby suburb of Los Angeles, more than 45 years ago. The company has made meaningful contributions to the local community in the form of employee volunteerism and philanthropic donations. It has also grown to become a global leader in the development, manufacture and delivery of biologic medicines to help fight some of the world’s toughest diseases. This latest expansion will bring innovation, highly skilled jobs, and a strong community presence to Thousand Oaks and Greater Los Angeles.
The groundbreaking event was attended by Thousand Oaks Mayor David Newman, Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorell and City Manager Drew Powers, along with other local policy and business leaders, as well as patient advocates who shared their appreciation for Amgen’s commitment to life-changing innovation.
“As a global leader in biotech, Amgen could locate anywhere on the planet, but it chose Thousand Oaks,” Mayor Newman said. “This is the kind of high-value, innovation-driven investment that defines our city’s economic future.”
“The $600 million expansion of the Amgen center for science and innovation is more than investing in jobs and economic growth,” said County Supervisor Jeff Gorell. “It represents a renewed commitment by Amgen to this community and a powerful step forward in their extraordinary life-saving mission.”
Building Towards the Future
The new center for science and innovation will integrate teams from both Research & Development and Process Development to foster a seamless transition from drug discovery to commercial manufacturing, accelerating the delivery of transformative therapies to patients.
“The vision for this building is very much the way we work here at Amgen, where chemists, biologists, physicians, patients, patient advocates and manufacturing operators all work together to reimagine solutions to some of the toughest diseases,” said Jay Bradner, executive vice president of R&D at Amgen, describing a space that bridges science and engineering in meaningful ways.
Esteban Santos, executive vice president of Operations at Amgen, added: “This investment in science and innovation furthers the promise of Amgen’s commitment to the Thousand Oaks community, as well as for the patients we serve around the world.”
The flexible, future-ready facility will incorporate advanced automation and digital capabilities, empowering researchers, scientists, and engineers to collaborate more efficiently and push the boundaries of science. It will also meet LEED Gold standards, reflecting Amgen’s dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Upon completion, the facility will be the most sustainable building on Amgen’s Thousand Oaks campus.
