Chemists claim that profits are falling in sector

Irish pharmacies had average sales more than €1.5 million in 2005, a new survey has revealed. However, the net average profit has dropped to €84,000 from €90,000 in 2004, according to the report which was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU).

The net profit margin in the community pharmacy sector is estimated at only 6 per cent which the survey attributed to high overhead costs, such as the cost of employing professional staff, insurance, security and owners' pension contributions.

However, this excludes the remuneration of pharmacy owners. This was included in overhead costs, which average €454,000 per pharmacy.

There were close to 9,500 full-time equivalent jobs in the sector in 2005, with an average remuneration of more than €42,000. Total employee numbers are estimated at more than 13,000.

Comparative figures for the profitability of the sector in the rest of the EU were not available, according to a spokeswoman for the IPU. "But from what we understand, the Irish pharmacy sector is not top of the scale in Europe," she said.

Ireland's spend per capita on medicines is also average in a European context, she said. The average Irish person spent €439 on medicines in 2005.

Prescription medicines accounted for 67 per cent of a phar-macy's turnover in 2005. Prescription sales were dominated by the State schemes, such as the medical card scheme which makes up 54 per cent of turnover.

Half of pharmacy outlets earned less than €100,000 in fees from the medical card scheme in 2005, up from 46 per cent in the previous year, according to the survey.

Over-the-counter medicines accounted for 14 per cent of turnover. Other sales, such as the beauty products, cosmetics and toiletries, accounted for 19 per cent.

The number of community pharmacists stood at 1,394 in 2005, an increase of more than 10 per cent since 2002. Pharmacies continue to be owned predominantly by individual pharmacists, with just 12 per cent owned by non-pharmacists.

More than half of pharmacies are owned as single outlets. However, the report highlighted an increase in chain ownership up from 35 per cent to 45 per cent of all pharmacies over the past four years and an increase 89 per cent in non-pharmacist ownership from 91 to 172 pharmacies.

Five per cent of pharmacies earned turnover of more than €2.5 million in 2005.

"The report highlights the highly competitive nature of the Irish pharmacy market with pharmacies open an average of 55 hours per week, in some cases seven days a week," said Séamus Feely, secretary general of the IPU.

"More worryingly, the net profit margins in pharmacy declined from an average of €90,000 per pharmacy in 2004 to €84,000 in 2005. This is a reflection of the rising costs and the ridiculously low level of fees paid for the delivery of the medical card scheme at just €131 per annum for eligible persons in 2004 or €2.51 per week."