SA's biggest pharmacy group by store footprint, Dis-Chem, said on Friday a fight for market share and some base effects contributed to an earnings dip in 2024, when it still hiked its final dividend by over a fifth.
Group revenue rose just over a 11% to about R36 billion in the year to end-February, it said on Friday, but group profit dipped marginally to just over R1 billion. It had benefitted in the prior year from a R72-million one-off gain as it acquired warehouses, releasing it from lease liabilities, while it also lost the contribution from Covid-19 vaccine administration and testing services.
Its retail margin also decreased from 30.0% to 29.7%, which it said was"due to the continued investment in promotional activity to ensure market share retention which impacted transactional margin in personal care and beauty".South Africans need to be in the know if we want to create a prosperous future. News24 has kept the country informed for 25 years, and we're about to enter a new chapter of fearless journalism.