JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African pharmacy chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies reported a 1.6% 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% to 36.3 billion rand ($1.93 billion) with retail revenue up 9.7% to 31.7 billion and comparable pharmacy store revenue up 6.9%.
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% to 27.4 billion rand.
The company offered a dividend 22.49 cents, marking a 21.9% increase over its dividend of 18.45 cents last year.
($1 = 18.7943 rand)
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; editing by Nqobile Dludla and Jason Neely)
