Mark Feeney, director of Bannerman's Pharmacy, told C+D last week (June 22) that the small chain has purchased two Lloydspharmacy branches in Maryhill, Glasgow.

Mr Feeney said that Bannerman’s took over operations of the branches in Napiershall Street and Garscube Road on June 12.

The purchase of the two branches is a return for Bannerman’s, as the previous owners of the group had sold the pharmacies to Lloydspharmacy in 2001, he added. 

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“It's pleasing to bring them back into the group,” Mr Feeney told C+D, adding that since the pharmacies are near to two other Bannerman’s branches, it enables the chain “to build on our operations in the north of Glasgow”.

Thanks to the new acquisitions, Bannerman's is now a group of five independent pharmacies in north Glasgow, he said.

 

Partnership model

 

The business is pharmacist-owned and operates using a partnership model, meaning that “pharmacist managers can work towards becoming shareholders in the business”, Mr Feeney told C+D.

He added that Bannerman’s has a “focus on training prescribing pharmacists” and “special interests” in using technology to make more time for patient-facing activities.

Bannerman’s is a family-run business that has been operating for over forty years in central Scotland, according to the company website. 

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Mr Feeney said that he took over as majority shareholder in the business in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Companies House records registered the change of ownership of a company called LP North Twenty from Lloyds Pharmacy Limited to A G Bannerman Limited on June 21. 

LP North Twenty is one of many companies recently set up by Lloydspharmacy amid a divestment programme highlighted by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) last month.

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A Lloydspharmacy spokesperson reiterated on Friday (June 23) that the multiple is “reviewing its community pharmacy estate and is selectively selling some branches”.
 
They said that the “majority of buyers” are independent pharmacy owners and local businesspeople “who have demonstrated their commitment to our branch teams and patients and are well placed to meet the ongoing health needs of the local community”.
 
And they added that “for patients there will be no change in the way they use their local pharmacy”.

 

Sales in Scotland

 

The news comes on the back of a raft of Lloydspharmacy sales, many of which have occurred in Scotland.

Last week, C+D reported that Lloydspharmacy’s parent company had sold its 32-strong travel clinic group Masta to Nomad Travel. Masta had branches in Glasgow, Falkirk and Aberdeen.

Read more: Scottish government provides £20m pharmacy ‘interim cash injection’

And last month, news broke that Rowlands Pharmacy had acquired 30 Lloydspharmacy branches in Scotland in what it called a "significant investment in growing our network north of the border", with C+D later revealing the locations of these branches.

Also in May, C+D reported that Scotland-based multiple Davidsons Chemists was to acquire five Lloydspharmacy branches this month.

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Speaking to C+D on June 22, managing director of Davidsons Allan Gordon said that the chain now runs 56 pharmacies across Scotland with the acquisition of the branches in Auchterarder, Dundee (Lochee), Dundee (Menzieshill), Kirriemuir and Montrose.

Mr Gordon said that the branches were acquired for their “geography” and “strategic fit” to the group.