A full year net profit of $61,000 was reported by Life Pharmacy recently, the credit for which the company gives to retail and dispensary sales that were strong across all its stores including franchisees.

It has been learnt that a loss of $570,000 during the last year, is followed by the result for the year to the end of March, which was made on revenues up 21.3 percent to $7.2 million.

Nearly 50 retail outlets are included in the group. The group, apart from providing a franchise service for about 20 Care Chemist outlets, also has 49 percent shareholding in 23 Life-branded outlets along with shareholdings in a small number of other Life-branded stores.

It was expressed by Life Pharmacy chairman Liz Coutts that both retail and dispensary sales had been strong across all Life Pharmacy stores, including franchisees despite the current economic environment.

If total sales growth is taken into consideration, then it was over 5%, with comparable store growth around half that rate.
 
Ms Coutts said that this represents a very praiseworthy retail performance in an environment that continues to be challenging.

Coutts added, “We are fortunate that beauty products are often regarded as affordable luxuries, a category which traditionally performs well even during recessionary periods, creating opportunities that our marketing team has been able to take advantage of.”