Uniphar’s gross profit surges 31% in first half to €134.3m

Uniphar, a Dublin-listed pharmaceuticals wholesaler, retailer and healthcare services group, said on Wednesday its gross profit surged by 30.9 per cent in the first half of the year to €134.3 million, fuelled by acquisitions.

The company, led by chief executive Ger Rabbette, said that its commercial and clinical division, which helps pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers with marketing and distribution, performed ahead of medium-term targets to deliver 23.7 per cent organic gross profit growth on the same period last year.

Total operating profit for the division, including the impact of acquisitions, rose 27.5 per cent to €53.4 million.

“Despite the difficulties of the Covid-19 trading environment, Uniphar has created many opportunities for growth,” the group said. “These new opportunities coupled with our continued investment in M&A [mergers and acquisitions], digital solutions and diversity in our products and services has demonstrated the group’s sustainable growth strategy and the resilience of our business.”

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In the past two months Uniphar has added to the commercial and clinical unit through two acquisitions.

It entered Europe’s largest medtech market with the purchase of German group CoRRect Medical in mid-July in a deal said to be worth about €25 million. Uniphar followed up in early August by buying a New York-headquartered company that provides outsourced medical affairs services, called BestMSLs, for $36 million (€30.2m).

Uniphar's supply chain and retail division reported 33.8 per cent gross profit growth to €60.8 million, boosted by the acquisition late last year of Hickey's Pharmacy Group, comprising 36 pharmacies. The group now operates 373 owned and franchised pharmacies, including two additional outlets purchased so far this year.

Davy analyst Allan Smylie noted that the network now accounts for 21 per cent of the retail pharmacy market in Ireland.

Organic gross profit growth in this unit amounted to 1.1 per cent.

The group’s third division, called product access, which sources and supplies unlicensed medicines for retail and hospital pharmacy customers and manages the release of speciality medicines for drug-makers to approved patients, posted 31.6 per cent gross profit growth to €20 million.

Total revenues across the group rose by 10.7 per cent to €964.9 million, while the group’s operating profit margin rose to 13.9 per cent from 11.8 per cent for the year-earlier period. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) surged 36.2 per cent to €41.1 million.

Uniphar floated on the stock market two years’ ago.