Sainsbury’s has offloaded its in-store pharmacy business to Celesio, the German pharmaceutical and healthcare firm, theguardian.com reports.
The move, reported to be for a fee of £125 million, means that Celesio will operate 277 pharmacies within Sainsbury’s supermarkets, and that the pharmacy personnel will simply transfer from the British company to the German one, operating under the Lloyd’s Pharmacy brand, which the latter controls.
Leading market analysts are speculating that the funds generated by the sale will be rechannelled into the expansion of another Sainsbury’s business, such as Netto or Sainsbury’s Local.
Bruno Monteyne of Bernstein Research, said, “These funds are not immediately necessary. The market was not waiting for this, but it is reassuring if somewhat unexpected.”
The CEO of the grocer, Mike Coupe, commented, “Working together with a specialist operator like Lloyds Pharmacy will enable us to grow and extend our pharmacy services to customers, whilst realising value for shareholders today from the pharmacy business we have grown organically over the last 20 years.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly
