Dis-Chem Pharmacies (DCP) H2 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Achieved strong performance for the year ended February 2025, with group revenue up 8.0% to R39.2 billion, driven by new store openings and wholesale growth.

• Operating profit rose 18.3% to R2.1 billion, reflecting effective cost management and staffing initiatives.

• EPS and HEPS increased by 20% to 137.6 and 137.5 cents per share, respectively; excluding a property gain, both rose by over 12%.

• Retail footprint expanded to 285 pharmacy stores and 45 baby stores, with 20 new pharmacy stores opened and 3 closed.

• Successfully embedded staffing framework 1.0, centralized inventory management, and launched innovation hub X, bigly labs to drive digital and analytics capabilities.

Financial highlights

• Total income grew 9.2% to R12.1 billion, with total income margin improving to 31% from 30.7%.

• Retail revenue up 5.9% to R33.6 billion; like-for-like retail revenue up 4.1%.

• Wholesale revenue up 9.9% to R30.1 billion; external wholesale revenue grew 22.1%.

• Operating margin improved from 4.9% to 5.4%; EBITDA margin increased to 8.3% from 8.0%.

• Net profit after tax attributable to equity holders increased 19.9% to R1.18 billion.

Outlook and guidance

• 39 new retail pharmacy stores planned for FY2026, doubling prior year’s expansion, with a three-year space pipeline of 137,000m².

• Group revenue for March–May 2025 grew 8.6% year-over-year; retail revenue up 7.8%, wholesale external revenue up 13.6%.

• Launch of a digitally led, analytically driven loyalty program and simplified promotional mechanisms in H2 FY2026.

• Committed to unlocking R500 million in working capital in FY2026 through inventory optimization.

• Continued investment in digital, analytics, and automation to drive customer engagement and operational efficiency.