South Africa's Dis-Chem Pharmacies posts 1.6% annual profit fall

Johannesburg: South African pharmacy chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies reported a 1.6 per cent decline in full-year earnings on Friday reflecting a strong previous year and absence of COVID-19 vaccine administration and testing services.

Headline earnings per share, a key profit measure in South Africa, fell to 114.7 cents in the year ended Feb.29 from 116.3 cents.

Dis-Chem said the group was impacted by the "base effects" of the prior year's performance, whose stronger first-half benefitted from the acquisitions of warehouse properties, which resulting in a one-off gain.

The current reporting period also had no contribution from COVID-19 vaccine administration and testing services, which have ended.

The company said revenue however, rose by 11.1 per cent to 36.3 billion rand ($1.93 billion) with retail revenue up 9.7 per cent to 31.7 billion and comparable pharmacy store revenue up 6.9 per cent.

In February the company said revenue from Sept.1 to Jan.28 was buoyed by strong sales growth in personal care and beauty as well as in baby products.

Wholesale revenue grew by 13.3 per cent to 27.4 billion rand.

The company offered a dividend 22.49 cents, marking a 21.9 per cent increase over its dividend of 18.45 cents last year.

(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; editing by Nqobile Dludla and Jason Neely)