Sainsbury's has marked pharmacy as an area for growth after announcing an increase in overall operating profits of 5.1 per cent in the past financial year.

Sainsbury's annual report, published on Wednesday (May 8), revealed underlying sales of £25.6bn, an increase of 4.6 per cent on the 2011-12 financial year. Its operating profits also rose, to £829m, but a fall in revenue from property sales contributed to a 1.4 per cent drop in pre-tax profit. It did not provide specific figures for the supermarket chain's pharmaceutical division.

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King said in a letter to shareholders that the company's network of more than 270 in-store pharmacies and three outpatient hospital pharmacies were part of its "targeted programme of new business development".

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	Mr King told shareholders that, as part of the supermarket's commitment to being a "leading provider of health services", Sainsbury's pharmacists conducted 95,000 cholesterol checks on patients between April 2012 and March 2013, an increase of a quarter on the previous year.

Pharmacists also gave 56,000 flu vaccinations, handed out more than 30,000 quit-smoking kits and were trained as healthy eating advisors to support customers to make healthy lifestyle choices, Mr King said.

Sainsbury's said that its pharmacists' experiences confirmed research that suggested patients were more likely to discuss minor ailments with a pharmacist than travel to their GP.

In February, Sainsbury's announced plans to increase its number of in-store GP surgeries, opening a further seven in 2013. In March, it set out plans to introduce its experimental healthy living programme into all of its in-store pharmacies, following the success of a trial last year.