Pharmacy group’s losses fall by 75%

Pre-tax losses at the company that operates the McCabe pharmacy group narrowed by 75% last year to €3.4m.

Newly filed accounts for Behey Ltd also show a 2% decline in revenue — from €55.36m to €54.2m — for the 12 months to the end of Jan 2012.

The family-owned business operates 21 pharmacies across the country, with 16 located in Dublin, and also runs the Radisson Blu Farnham Estate Hotel in Co Cavan.

Numbers employed at the group last year increased by 26 to 430 and the filings show that the group’s operating profits declined by 11% to €5.4m.

However, bank loan interest payments, totalling €5.4m, and non-cash depreciation costs of €2.3m, alongside asset impairments of €1m, contributed to the group recording its pre-tax loss.

The €13.8m loss recorded in the previous year chiefly arose from an €11.6m writedown in assets.

According to the directors’ report, “net margins in the pharmacy business are all down relative to the results in previous years”.

It added: “These reductions are directly attributable to the significant reduction in reimbursement levels by the HSE for medicines dispensed to patients on their behalf and reduced dispensing fees from the HSE.

“There have been further reductions in these areas in 2012 and the outlook for 2013 is also expected to be challenging. The directors have succeeded in clawing back some of the reductions through better purchasing and through savings in overheads,” it said.

Regarding the performance of the Radisson Blu hotel in Co Cavan, the directors stated: “Farnham Estate continued to buck the trend in the hotel sector and its revenue increased in the year. This is being driven by improvements in occupancy levels and theaverage room rate.”