Large networks of pharmacies ignore the crisis and advance 4% in 1st half

Sao Paulo-the big networks of drugstores surf in the crisis, and show the resilience of the sector. In the first half of this year the 28 largest of branch had nominal growth of 12.6% in turnover. Considering the effects of inflation, this high enough to the 4%-still a significant value on the current recessive scenario.
Data from the Brazilian Association of Pharmacies and Drugstores (Abrafarma), uniquely by INN advance, show an increase mainly in generic categories and not medicines, which advanced 12.86 percent and 11.95%, respectively, on a high of 9.05% for medicines (in nominal terms). Despite the expansion in turnover in relation to the number of units sold, the increase was a little more shy, 2.93%, 1.08 billion of products being marketed in the period. "The high turnover was pulled by rising prices, and sell in more quantity items with higher value," the Chief Executive Officer of Abrafarma, Sérgio Mena Barreto.
About the stronger expansion of generics, the Executive points out that this was always a gamble. "We have this policy to work preferably with generics, so much so that in units sold, they already represent 24% of the total," says, that, when it comes to billing, the representativeness of the category drops to 17%.
Not so good for everyone
This strong expansion of the networks associated with Abrafarma, however, does not represent the reality of the entire sector. "What is happening is a growth pulled by the major networks. The Independents have not grown as much as we do. "
The Executive he credits such high expressive of the majors to two factors: first, the fact that they have their own distribution systems-which ensures that there is no stockout. "In this sector, having no rupture is critical. If a consumer goes to a pharmacy with a list of five products, and is not one of the items, he will find another store. "
He goes on to explain that the rupture rate in large networks is approximately 12%, while in the small pharmacies reaches 50%. In other words, every ten products, lack a grids, while small enough to Miss five items.
In addition, the second aspect that contributes to this strong growth of large is the structure of the stores. "We won independent networks also by the size of the units. The service level is much higher, in terms of choices of brands and product mix ", he adds.
The largest
To ensure this broad mix without breaking, invest in distribution systems is essential. Example, the streak-the country''s largest network Drogasil with 1,330 units-recently opened its ninth distribution center (DC). "The inauguration of this new CD in Pernambuco removes a very important expansion bottleneck. With a local CD we have achieved a significant improvement of the service level, and this is reflected in sales, "he said in Conference call the investor relations officer, Eugène De Zagottis.
The company saw in the second quarter of this year high of 44.6% in net profit in the year-to-year comparison, registering R$ 157,800,000 gain. Net sales advanced 25% over the same period. "We had too high gross margin, which rose 1.3 percentage point, leveraged a lot by the price increase of 12 percent," he said.
According to him, this is the best quarterly result in the history of Drogasil Streak. Proof of the company''s optimism was the expansion of the guidance for the store openings during the year, which went from 165 to 200 units. The forecast for 2017 was also revised, from 195 to 200 stores new operations in the country.
To pay less, third largest of Brazil, also showed growth in sales in the first half of this year, which have advanced by about 22%, in comparison with the same period last year and according to the company. In addition, during this period were opened 69 new units, which led the company to almost 900 stores. Until 2017, the forecast is to reach 1000 points of sale.