Sales data from the company has revealed that there has been an increase “year-on-year since 2016” of pharmacies for sale with the broker, Hutchings senior pharmacy consultant Paul Steet told C+D today (February 4).

Using 2016 as a base year, Hutchings Consultants reported a 33% increase in pharmacies for sale in 2017, and a 51% and 60% increase in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Although this data is unique to Hutchings, the company told C+D it is “clearly the case” that its competitors have also “shown a substantive increase in the pharmacies they have offered for sale throughout the UK over the course of last year”.

The broker experienced “high levels of activity” from both sellers and buyers throughout 2019, it told C+D, and many of the pharmacies up for sale came from multiples putting less profitable branches on the market.

In the last year, Boots and Lloydspharmacy have both announced that they are to close less profitable branches. Boots recently said it’s “on track” to complete the closure of around 200 branches announced in June 2019 before the end of the year, having already shut 28.

The introduction of the five-year funding contract in 2019 is one reason for this increase in pharmacy sales, while the 2016 funding cuts have also put pressure on business owners, Hutchings has said.

For a deeper insight into pharmacy sales and acquisitions in 2019 and predictions for the coming year, read Mr Steet’s blog on the subject.