Superdrug reveals supercharged £112m profits in 2023 as it opens new branches
The health and beauty giant raked in £1.5bn in revenue in 2023, its annual report has revealed.
Superdrug has announced that its pre-tax profits rose by a heroic 44%, soaring to £111.6 million last year, its 2023 financial statements revealed.
The health and beauty giant saw 12% more sales in the year ending December 30, as it turned over a hefty £1.5 billion, according to its annual report published on Companies House over the weekend (July 7).
The results came despite “another tough year for the retail environment” characterised by “persistently high inflation” and “higher interest rates”, the strategic report said.
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But Superdrug benefitted from health and beauty being “one of the few market groups” to achieve growth, even as total footfall declined compared to 2022, it added.
A spokesperson for Superdrug said that its “strong” financial results were due to its retail stores and “continued own brand growth” as the multiple offered “high quality, trending health and beauty products at an affordable price”.
Read more: Superdrug announces plans to open 25 new stores this year
Superdrug was able to issue £45m dividends in 2023, the same as in 2022. Its ultimate parent company is CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong listed company with holdings in multiple industries.
Its financial report stated that minimum wage increases had “put pressure on operating margins” for the multiple, which had an average of 13,845 employees in 2023.
Fab refurbs
Superdrug chief executive Peter Macnab said that the multiple had “continued to invest in [its] store estate” over the year.
It opened 14 branches in the reporting period, with “larger stores” offering “health services”, and also refitted 45 “existing stores” with new shop fronts, floor layouts, signage, flooring and ceilings, it announced.
The strategic report revealed that it “increased capital expenditure” during the year by £3.8m to £28.7m.
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Superdrug’s healthcare division currently consists of 183 stores that contain a pharmacy and 85 with “nurse clinics”, as it boasted a total of “784 stores in the UK and Ireland”.
Its strategic report noted that the company had negotiated “significant reductions in store rents on lease renewals”, helping to keep its bricks-and-mortar stores economical.
Keeping prices “competitive”
Macnab noted that inflationary pressures drove it to invest “heavily to keep [its] prices competitive”
The strategic report said that its “central strategic pillar” was “offline plus online”.
It noted that Superdrug’s “marketplace proposition” had “buoyed” online sales as it let third party sellers “showcase and sell” directly to customers on Superdrug’s website.
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Its spokesperson said that “over 22,000 products” are listed on Superdrug’s marketplace.
Superdrug’s spokesperson also said that 18.1 million people were signed up to its loyalty programme, with “over 60%” of sales made to its members.
The health and beauty giant’s online doctor service offers “75 services including women’s health, travel health and healthy weight management”, they added.
Superdrug in the news
Last month, Superdrug revealed that a four-week course of tirzepatide weight loss drug Mounjaro “will be available in over 80 of Superdrug’s health clinics across England, Wales and Scotland”.
It announced that it had “expanded its face-to-face weight loss services with the launch of a new advanced weight loss blood test and the introduction of Mounjaro into its high street health clinics”
And in May, the multiple revealed that it would open a further 25 bricks-and-mortar premises in 2024, which it expected to “create over 500 jobs nationwide”.
Read more: Ghada Beal named new Superdrug healthcare director
It said at the time that it would also extend seven existing stores and refit 60 over the course of 2024, but it was unclear how many, if any, of the stores will include a pharmacy.
In June last year, Superdrug announced the appointment of Ghada Beal as its new healthcare director.
Beal was retail and pharmacy services director at Lloydspharmacy and previously spent 26 years at Boots parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), including four years as vice president, director of stores.
