Ireland’s two largest local pharmacy groups to merge

The two leading groups of independent, locally Irish-owned pharmacies, Totalhealth Pharmacy and Haven Pharmacy have agreed to merge, following the approval of members. There are currently 49 Haven and 78 Totalhealth pharmacies throughout Ireland.

Combined, Haven and Totalhealth will manage supply chain value in the order of €200m per annum and the two groups combined dispense more medicines than the total amount dispensed by the two biggest international chains operating in the market.

The current chair of Haven Pharmacy Group, Daragh Connolly will be chair of the combined new group. Managing director of Totalhealth John Arnold has been appointed as the new group’s CEO.

A key advantage of the merger is to ensure that the independent community pharmacies in the group are protected against the potential of an oligopoly developing in a market where there is increasing consolidation, Connolly told the Sunday Independent.

“There are now just two main wholesalers in the market, United Drug and Uniphar, and we have good relationships with both of them. But what we do see is further consolidation happening with Uniphar, for example, buying the Hickeys Pharmacy chain. What we don't want to end up with is a situation where there is an oligopoly where we could be left behind and at the mercy of big international players.”

The analogy with the co-operative movement in the agri food industry was a good one, he said. Both groups are entirely member-owned by individual, community-based pharmacists with a complementary geographical spread throughout Ireland, said Connolly.

Members operate their pharmacies under their own name together with the overall brand identity of their membership group, either Haven or Totalhealth.

“The owners of our pharmacies have their roots in communities and a philosophy of serving their communities. It made sense for us to talk to each other, to see what it is that we do best and for us to combine to become stronger,” he said.

“We will find strength in numbers, because we will have better buying power, we will be able to do better deals with our partners in industry and in wholesale.”

Current branding for both groups will remain in place for up to two years to ensure ongoing continuity of awareness and service for customers.

“We see a win in this for the communities that we serve, because we can give better value and better service. We know that we can compete with the product range and the value that people sometimes perceive is with international players and national chains, even if that is not always the case,” said Connolly. 

"Surveys have shown that people like their community pharmacy and like when it is owned and run by local pharmacists who are embedded in their communities. But by being part of something bigger, our pharmacists are able to spend more time doing what they are really good at.”

Both groups already provide supply chain management, marketing, and organisational and business administration supports to their pharmacy members.

Connolly said that it has been a challenging year for the pharmacy sector because of the pandemic but that, if given the go ahead by the Government in the coming weeks, Irish pharmacies could vaccinate a million people in eight weeks.

“We are very busy at the moment in what you would describe as our core competency as community pharmacists. We are the front door of the health system. We always have been but the pandemic has just put it into perspective,” he said.

However, the lockdown has meant that pharmacies have taken a big hit to other areas of their business.

“We would have seen a huge drop off in the beauty end of things, what you might call the discretionary spend as opposed to first aid and medicines.”

Sunday Indo Business