annual report 
and accounts
2006
a journey of 
clinical excellence 01 highlights
02 chairman’s statement
04 chief executive’s review
06 therapeutic and geographic focus
08 financial review
10 board of directors
11 report of the directors
17 statement of directors’ responsibilities
18 independent auditors’ report
20 group profit and loss account
21 group balance sheet
22 company balance sheet
23 group cash flow statement
25 notes to the financial statements
43 notice of annual general meeting
45 proxy form
47 group information
48 principal locations
premier research group plc is a major international
contract research organisation cro with offices
covering the whole of europe and the united states
premier research is committed to delivering
excellent service to its customers using the highest
scientific standards intimate local knowledge and
stateoftheart technology all premier research
employees are committed first and foremost to
fulfilling each customer’s requirements in a timely
accurate and costeffective manner
report and accounts 2006  
contents premier research annual report and accounts 2006 01


Summary:
 premier research has continued on a positive 
trend throughout the year ending 31 january 2006  
i am delighted to report 12 months of sustained 
organic growth complemented by three highly 
strategic acquisitions  
operational review
as a leading international
pharmaceutical services group
our focus has been on sustainable
growth and improving our ability
to win and deliver higher value
multinational projects this 
year has seen us deliver further
on these goals with turnover
increasing by over 75 and
continued strong demand for 
our services from new and 
existing international customers
underlined by an increased
emphasis on larger value contracts
after a period of sustained organic
growth in 2004 2005 saw premier
research return its focus to the
acquisition trail with three deals
being completed during the year
the funding was provided by means
of two vendor share placings with
institutions together with increased
banking facilities the successful
completion of these transactions
illustrates investors’ support of 
the management’s growth strategy
for the business and our focus 
on providing longterm value 
for shareholders
post year end premier research
successfully raised a further £6m
gross through a placing to both 
new and existing investors this will
be used to fund all outstanding
deferred cash consideration from
recent acquisitions additional
working capital and in whole or in
part further acquisitions coincident
with this the group consolidated its
banking facilities
post acquisition integration
the integrations of epa europharma
and imform into our international
ie nonus infrastructure and 
of pharmdata into our us
infrastructure have largely been
completed cost savings that were
identified during the acquisition
processes have been realised and
will continue to enhance our current
year earnings i am delighted to
confirm that we have maintained
our track record of not losing any
customer from an acquired
company or indeed through our
core business moreover since the
acquisitions have been completed
we have been awarded repeat
business from a number of legacy
customers and we have continued
to be successful in attracting new
customers to the enlarged group
with the winning of several new
significant contracts on both sides
of the atlantic
04 premier research annual report and accounts 2006
chief executive’s review  
dr simon yaxley
ep a europharma
acquired june 2005
ep a europharma provides a
broad range of outsourced
clinical services to the
biotechnology and
pharmaceutical industries
the acquisition has provided
premier research with a solid
base from which to capitalise
on market opportunities in
germany europe’s second
largest outsourcing market
the acquisition of ep a
europharma also allowed the
group to achieve improved
operating margins through
regionalised monitoring of
investigator sites high value
regulatory affairs and statistical
services plus the integration 
of central overheads
pharmdata
acquired july 2005
pharmdata specialises in 
clinical data management
statistical analysis medical
writing electronic archiving 
and project management
services operating solely 
within the us market
pharmdata provided premier
research principally with
increased scope and scale of
data management services
due to the specialist nature of
its service offering pharmdata
achieves a higher operating
margin than premier research’s
existing data management
operationsthe customer base
which is comprised largely of
us based pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies is
entirely complementary to 
that of premier research
this provides considerable
scope for crossselling
opportunities particularly
offering clinical services to
pharmdata’s customers who
have to date secured these 
services elsewhere
imform
acquired december 2005
imform based in darmstadt
germany with offices across
eastern europe specialises in
providing outsourced clinical
services including project
management clinical
monitoring clinical data
management medical writing
and quality assurance to the
biopharma market with
expertise experience and
technology necessary to
develop drugs from phase i 
to phase iv imform again has
a complementary customer
base with 20 customers 19 of
whom are new  to premier
research imform provides a
strategic footprint for premier
research to access doctors and
patients within the important
eastern european cro market
details of the three acquisitions completed during the year are shown below strengthened management
as highlighted at the time of our
interim results the international and
us operational management teams
were strengthened to facilitate the
integration of the acquisitions
furthermore a small number of
management positions with global
responsibility have been created
information technology quality
assurance finance and proposals
contracts to drive the integration and
to accelerate the migration of best
practice between business unitsthe
group now has a robust structure
capable of handling the increasing
operational requirements associated
with premier research’s projected
growth and development in the 
global marketplace
our sales teams have also been
strengthened to retain a balanced
focus across the us and international
territories and to continue to drive 
organic growth
service offering  sales
demand for our services remains
strong stemming from our continued
focus on three of the highest growth
areas in drug development oncology
central nervous system and anti
infectives together with our
underlying expertise in paediatrics
a specialised area with strong
regulatory drivers
with over 325 employees in 31
countries our expertise across
consultancy clinical study delivery
data management and final medical
reporting provides us with an
extremely robust business model 
and a powerful reputation amongst
our peers which together have given 
us the infrastructure and kudos to
compete for higher value contracts
our broad and blue chip customer base
comprises over 120 customers many of
these are major pharmaceutical
organisations although in any one year
no single contract accounts for more
than 10 of revenuesthis continues the
trend of providing us with recurring
businessindicating the excellent service
delivery we provide
outsourcing market
with the improved quality reliability
safety efficiency and controls
associated with outsourcing trials
the outsourcing market continues to
be buoyant and the requirement for
outsourced clinical research services
continues to grow
as a management team who closely
monitor the market we are confident
that this trend will continue for the
foreseeable future and importantly
premier research’s positioning within
this growing market will allow the
group to exploit the significant
opportunities which arise
current trading
i am delighted to report that we have
had a good start to the new financial
year and the booktobill ratio is still
greater than one by the end of march
2006 £65m of contracts were either
signed or under negotiation with a
mix between new and existing
customers and more than £50 million
of outstanding proposals are currently 
with customers the continued 
growth of the order book and the
realisation of the operational benefits
associated with the integration of the
three recent acquisitions provide
management with added confidence
that the group is on track to deliver
further growth in the current year
summary  outlook
with an aggressive organic 
growth strategy complemented 
by immediately earnings enhancing
acquisitions premier research has 
the skill base the flexibility and the
competitive positioning to compete
seriously with the larger cros
strong market conditions together
with excellent visibility on revenues 
for 2006 mean we move into the 
new financial year with continued
confidence
in closing i would like to thank all our
staff for their commitment and for
embracing this exciting period of
change our new employees who
joined us from epa europharma 
pharmdata and imform and to our
shareholders for their continued
support
dr simon y axley
chief executive officer
premier research annual report and accounts 2006 05
we have continued to be successful in attracting
new customers to the enlarged group with the
winning of several new significant contracts on both
sides of the atlantic
phase 1
phase 2 42
phase 4 12
other 13
phase 3 15
18  data and statistics associated with phase i studies
sales by phase