South Africans’ return to larger malls, a better-than-anticipated uptake of its new health insurance offerings, opening a dozen new pharmacies, and adding three new Baby City stores to its portfolio (it acquired the group in 2020) helped Dis-Chem’s revenue exceed R30bn for the first time in its history.
CFO Rui Morais told Business Day the group was seeing returning footfall at larger malls, and that although expansion with an eye on additional market share gains continues, the group was concentrating on leveraging its brand.
In March, the beginning of its 2023 year, it launched its new range of Dis-Chem branded insurance products, part of a new focus on improving the primary-healthcare services it offers.
It has also opened 12 new Dis-Chem and three Baby City stores, and plans 16 new Dis-Chem stores and seven new baby stores in place for 2023. In 2020, the group had paid R430m for Baby City, giving it about a 16.1% share of the baby care market. And this year, it picked up yet another asset for R23m, Baby Boom, bringing it an additional 20 stores.
The group also recently spent R282m acquiring the Medicare group, effective from October, adding 48 pharmacies to its portfolio.
In November, the group invested R195m in a 25% stake of Kaelo Holdings, which offers both gap cover to pay for hospital bill shortfalls not covered by medical schemes and other basic health insurance products for people without medical schemes.
In the two months since being launched, uptake of the group’s medical insurance and gap cover offering, Dis-Chem Health had exceeded initial expectations.
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