British company expects to create up to 800 new jobs over the next five years

PENANG, Nov. 19, 2019 – The Penang government and Smith+Nephew, the global medical technology business, are pleased to announce that Batu Kawan Industrial Park at Penang, Malaysia, has been selected as the location for a new Smith+Nephew high technology manufacturing facility.
The new facility will primarily support Smith+Nephew’s Orthopaedics franchise, which has been growing strongly in the Asia Pacific region.

Mark Gladwell, President of Global Operations at Smith+Nephew, said: “Penang provides a great balance of manufacturing expertise, stable economy, established infrastructure, long history of foreign direct investment and established supply chain. Investing in Malaysia gives us a new presence close to our highest growth markets and enables Smith+Nephew to be part of a growing medical device centre of excellence.”

The Right Honourable Chief Minister of Penang, Chow Kon Yeow, said: “The medical devices industry is playing an increasingly important role in Penang over the past 10 years. Thanks to 50 years of industrial experience and a robust supply chain, Penang’s supporting infrastructure is capable of meeting the stringent demands of the highly-regulated medical devices industry. The well-connected industry ecosystem is one of the State’s key competitive advantages in attracting high quality medical technology and devices investments. With the addition of Smith+Nephew, Penang is poised to further entrench itself as a hub for the medical technology and devices industry.”

The new facility will initially be 250,000 sq. ft., with the opportunity to expand in the future if required. Construction is expected to begin in early 2020, with first production batches shipped before the end of 2022.

Smith+Nephew expects to create up to 800 jobs over the next five years, including roles in manufacturing, engineering and supply chain. Recruitment is planned to begin in 2020, with positions advertised locally.

The cost of the project has not been disclosed.

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About InvestPenang
InvestPenang is the Penang State Government’s principal agency for promotion of investment. Its objectives are to develop and sustain Penang’s economy by enhancing and continuously injecting business activities in the State through foreign and local investments, including the spawning of viable new growth centres. To support the realization of its objectives, InvestPenang also runs initiatives like SMART Centre (to assist SMEs), Penang CAT Centre (to assist talents) and @CAT Penang (to assist start-ups).

About Smith+Nephew
Smith+Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business that exists to restore people’s bodies and their self-belief by using technology to take the limits off living. We call this purpose ‘Life Unlimited’. Our 16,000+ employees deliver this mission every day, making a difference to patients’ lives through the excellence of our product portfolio, and the invention and application of new technologies across our three global franchises of Orthopaedics, Advanced Wound Management and Sports Medicine & ENT. Founded in Hull, UK, in 1856, we now operate in more than 100 countries, and generated annual sales of $4.9 billion in 2018. Smith+Nephew is a constituent of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN). The terms ‘Group’ and ‘Smith+Nephew’ are used to refer to Smith & Nephew plc and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise. For more information about Smith+Nephew, please visit www.smith-nephew.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook

For photography of Smith+Nephew products and background information on the company please visit
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Yeoh Bit Kun
InvestPenang
bitkun@investpenang.gov.my

Charles Reynolds / Francesca Dunning
Smith+Nephew
+44 1923 477300
francesca.dunning@smith-nephew.com

Forward-looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as “aim”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “well-placed”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “target”, “consider” and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith+Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls or other problems with quality management systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption to our supply chain or operations or those of our suppliers; competition for qualified personnel; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith+Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith+Nephew’s most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith+Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith+Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith+Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith+Nephew’s expectations.
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