Dr. Max pharmacy chain ups sales to Kc29.8bn in 2024

Brno, May 22 (CTK) - Sales of the Czech pharmacy chain Dr. Max grew by Kc2.4bn yr/yr to Kc29.8bn last year, of which Kc3.6bn were e-shop sales, CEO Jan Zak said at a press conference today.

The company did not disclose its bottom line, which is due to be available in its annual report.

The Czech market leader increased the number of pharmacies by 27 to 529 last year and plans to continue its development.

Dr. Max opened a new and largely automated warehouse in Brno-Lisne, southern Moravia, at the end of last year, where it can process 25,000 orders a day. Currently, it processes 8,000 orders a day and employs 100 people. The company has another warehouse for its e-shop in Nucice near Prague.

The e-shop will continue to grow, but brick-and-mortar pharmacies are still dominant, according to Zak.

Dr. Max is operated by Ceska Lekarna Holding, which is controlled by investment group Penta.

According to the database of the State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL), there are more than 2,650 pharmacies in operation in the Czech Republic, but the trend is that pharmacies are disappearing in smaller towns and villages, while more are being added in shopping centres in cities where the availability of pharmacies is already high. At the same time, the number of independent pharmacies is decreasing and the number of those owned by chains is increasing, Czech Chamber of Pharmacists (CLnK) head Ales Krebs said in April.

The number two on the Czech market is the BENU chain, which has 419 pharmacies. It has not released this year's results yeat, but last year, its sales, including franchise partners, amounted to Kc14bn. Other chains already have a significantly lower market share.

The third is Lekarny Lemon, which took over the Chytre lekarny and Domaci lekarny networks last year, which had about 70 branches last October. Last year's results have already been published by the Pilulka Lekarny group, which had a turnover of Kc1.35bn, down by 36 percent year-on-year. Lekarna.cz, a purely online shop, had sales of Kc1.7bn in 2023.

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