Dis-Chem picks up some market share, and it's eyeing more

SA's biggest pharmacist by market share Dis-Chem says it's pleased with a recovery in sales and customers as it looks to put the "bad publicity" from a leaked memo behind it and is pushing ahead with plans to significantly bulk up its footprint, particularly outside of Gauteng.

The retailer reported on Friday that group revenue rose 9.4% to R17.9 billion in the six months to end August, headline earnings fell about 17% to just under R500 million, with margins under pressure as it picked up its promotional activity and battled with issues including load shedding.

The group was also still feeling the effects of a boycott from some customers following a leaked internal memo, which referred to a need for a moratorium on hiring white people to meet employment equity targets. This resulted in many chronic medicine patients ditching the group, but CEO Ruis Morais told News24 the majority had returned by the second quarter.