In the year up to March 31 2022, Pharmacy2U made “significant improvements” to its operational efficiency, using this “increase in scale” to improve its gross margin to 33.4%, according to a financial report published by Companies House on Tuesday (January 3).
“In addition, improved awareness of the Pharmacy2U brand led to a lower marketing cost per patient,” the online pharmacy said.
A combination of these factors “dramatically improved profitability”, with a profit before tax of £2.9m compared to just £100,000 in the year up to March 31 2021, the report said.
Read more: Pharmacy2U 'incredibly proud' as it reaches 1 million COVID-19 jab mark
The marked improvement indicates a second year of growth for the company, which incurred pre-tax losses amounting to £7.2m in 2019/20.
At the time, Pharmacy2U pointed to the launch of a second automated dispensing facility in Leicester, which it said increased its operating capacity while keeping operating costs low.
And in 2020, C+D reported that Pharmacy2U had incurred a £16m loss for the financial year to March 2019, although it said at the time that it expected “profitability to increase”.
“Striving” for higher market share
Pharmacy2U is “striving to gain a much higher share of the NHS repeat prescription market” by forging ahead with its “existing” multi-channel marketing approach, according to its latest financial documents.
In 2021/22, Pharmacy2U increased the number of prescription items it dispensed by 17% and increased its patient nominations by 9% on the previous year, the documents show.
The online pharmacy business launched another dispensing facility in the last quarter of 2021, they said.
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They continued: “Together with the existing Leeds facility, [this] will provide operational capacity for [circa] 10% of the repeat prescription market in England.”
The company believes it is “well positioned to play a significant role in the development and provision of pharmacy services, including COVID-19 and other vaccinations,” it said.
In November 2021, then-CEO Mark Livingstone announced he was “incredibly proud” that Pharmacy2U had delivered one million COVID-19 jabs.
And in November last year, the company appointed former Walgreens Boots Alliance board member Kevin Heath as its new CEO, replacing Mr Livingstone.
