Midcounties Co-operative is evaluating its pharmacy division as it prepares to examine potential interest from buyers.
The news, which comes after a period of change in the high street pharmacy market, saw the retailer instructing independent agents dealing exclusively with pharmacy sales and valuations to assess the value of 22 of its 30 pharmacies.
These are stand-alone pharmacies that the retailer operates and they do not include the pharmacies located within its food stores.
In an official comment, the society said: “Midcounties Co-operative is exploring options for the future development of its healthcare business. This includes an exploratory process to assess the value of a number of our pharmacies, which may lead to the sale of part of our estate.
“This process is at a very early stage and we will ensure that any developments are communicated to colleagues, who will always be our primary focus alongside the interests of customers in our communities.”
In March 2018 the society sold three of its local pharmacy businesses. At the time the co-op said it was reshaping its pharmacy division in light of reductions in NHS funding for community pharmacy. It added that it aimed to focus on smaller bricks-and-mortar estate and growing its online healthcare business. Midcounties also runs digital business cooppharmacy.coop, which provides a platform for offering NHS, pharmacy and online doctor services to its members.
In its 2018/2019 half-yearly report, Midcounties said the pharmacy business depended on the NHS to fund its activities, which meant it was subject to “difficult financial constraints”.
