ASX-LISTED Ramsay Health Care (RHC), in its first half 2018 financial results, has reported adding 23 retail pharmacies to its Australian network during the six months to 31 Dec, bringing the total number to 54, including the addition of Queensland's Malouf Pharmacy business (PD 15 Nov 2017) which was finalised just prior to Christmas.
However expansion of the network has been slower than expected "due to regulatory delays" but the company opened a flagship Ramsay Pharmacy store in the Melbourne CBD in Jan 2018.
Ramsay said it was concentrating on sites close to hospitals "so patients can benefit from receiving both medication and other integrated care services beyond the hospital wars".
The Ramsay Pharmacy portfolio includes four 24/7 pharmacies within the company's major hospitals, and the network is complemented by more than 150 hospital pharmacies operated by Ramsay, which is Australia's largest private hospital operator.
The Australian arm of the international RHC business has underpinned the company with a strong performance, md Craig McNally said, while the European business faced ongoing challenges.
"Our Australian operations delivered 9.1% EBIT growth on the previous corresponding period due to above market volume growth and the benefits of recent cost efficiency programs," McNally said in his commentary on results.
McNally added that the company was looking at further out-of-hospital opportunities, including the retail pharmacy strategy, to deliver "innovative, cost-effective and patient-centred care to the community," with Ramsay's scale and diversity to ensure it continued to deliver earnings growth.
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