Buying a pharmacy | What's involved in owning a pharmacy business?
05 May 2019
There are still over 5,000 independent pharmacies in England and after years of decline the independent sector is now expanding again.
The large multiple Pharmacy companies are now offloading pharmacies in many of locations because the multiple has lost business to an ambitious local operator. There is a lot of opportunity for owning a pharmacy business for the right people with the right support. At Pharmacy Seekers we provide end to end support for our clients with direct contact with our senior team throughout.
So lets put a few myths to rest first;
- Now that the Category M clawback has finished and we have a new long term pharmacy contract agreement , independent pharmacy has a bright future. The new service orientated pharmacy contract is one that can be embraced by independents quickly and will provide lots of job satisfaction.
- Money is available from many banks to support purchases of pharmacies where the new operator has a good business plan to take advantage of the local opportunities that exist. It’s not just the High Street names either. Over twenty banks are keen on lending to community pharmacy.
- Help is available from numerous sources to advise on securing finance, appointing specialist accountants and solicitors, pharmacy contract specialists, etc.
- Opening up an internet pharmacy from scratch using the contract exemption for internet pharmacies is a cheap way of entering the market but is very difficult unless you have a local USP or a large sum of money available for marketing to make a success of it. Even a successful internet pharmacy does not create long term capital value in the same way that a bricks and mortar pharmacy does.
- Its not a quick process (3-6 months or sometimes even longer) but there are points within the purchase process where you effectively reach a point of no return with the project, well before you actually legally commit. A successful purchase is all about planning ahead and lots of research!
There will be further short articles on particular aspects of the pharmacy purchasing process in future blogs but if you need some informal advice now on how to purchase your first pharmacy then contact steve@pharmacyseekers.com or chris@pharmacyseekers.com.