{"id":832143,"date":"2025-07-25T11:37:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T09:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832143"},"modified":"2025-07-25T18:35:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:35:56","slug":"clicks-vs-dis-chem-the-winner-is-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/832143\/clicks-vs-dis-chem-the-winner-is-clear\/","title":{"rendered":"Clicks vs Dis-Chem – the winner is clear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clicks remains a stronger investment than its largest rival, Dis-Chem, according to renowned investment experts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks and Dis-Chem remain comfortably the largest pharmacy chains in South Africa, with both companies pushing ahead with massive increases in their store footprints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with BusinessDayTV<\/a>, Schalk Louw from PSG Wealth said both companies have performed well recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he doesn\u2019t own Clicks, Louw said that he would buy if there is a moment of weakness for the stock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite both Clicks and Dis-Chem being strong businesses, Louw said that Clicks is winning the expansion battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks plans to open around 50 new stores, while Dis-Chem is looking at around 40 in the coming year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherein lies the difference between the two companies for me. You can clearly see that Clicks are quicker to roll out these new stores,\u201d said Louw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it’s helped them up to now. It will most probably be the one that I\u2019ll buy in any weakness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investment legend David Shapiro from Sasfin Securities shared a similar sentiment to Louw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapiro noted that Dis-Chem is still a very young business, with a new generation taking the helm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Clicks was only formed 10 years before Dis-Chem in 1968, its retail network is well over 900 outlets. This is far more than Dis-Chem\u2019s 327 locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first leadership change at Dis-Chem only occurred in 2023, with former CFO Rui Morais taking over from founder Ivan Saltzman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapiro said it will take time for the company to get where it wants to be, even if he believes that the group should have expanded more rapidly until now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that there is nothing wrong with Dis-Chem\u2019s underlying business, but from a pure market point of view, Clicks still has a large edge on Dis-Chem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent performance <\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Both companies have seen relatively strong results over the last year, with solid returns generated for shareholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its interim results for the six months ending 28 February 2025, Clicks said its business model remained resilient, with market shares in its core health and beauty categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s total turnover jumped by 6.2% to R23.2 billion. Its retail turnover, which includes Clicks, the Body Shop, M-Kem and Sorbet corporate stores, increased by 6.4%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s headline earnings rose by 12.9% from R1.27 billion to R1.44 billion, and its headline earnings per share jumped by 13.2% to 603.9 cents per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The performance in the first half of the financial year resulted in a 13.2% increase in the group\u2019s diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its board also increased the interim gross ordinary dividend from 210 cents per share in the prior period to 238 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dischem also saw a strong performance in its financial results for the year ended 28 February 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said it made solid progress on strategic areas to deliver sustainable shareholder value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s retail revenue grew by 5.9% to R33.6 billion, with comparable pharmacy store revenue growth at 4.1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic and headline earnings per share increased by 20.0% to 137.6 cents and 137.5 cents per share, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s total dividend per share also jumped by 19.9% to 45.74 cents per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Recent Results <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Financials<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>H1 2024<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>H1 2025<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>% Change<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Revenue (R billion)<\/td>R23.3<\/td>R24.8<\/td>+6.6%<\/td><\/tr>
Headline Earnings (R billion)<\/td>R1.27<\/td>R1.44<\/td>+12.9%<\/td><\/tr>
Basic earnings per share (cents)<\/td>532.9<\/td>603<\/td>+13.1%<\/td><\/tr>
Diluted earnings per share (cents)<\/td>532.9<\/td>603<\/td>+13.1%<\/td><\/tr>
Interim dividend (cents)<\/td>210<\/td>238<\/td>+13%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Clicks results for the six months ending 28 February 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Financials<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>FY24<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>FY25<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>% Change<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Group revenue<\/td>R36.3 billion<\/td>R39.2 billion<\/td>+8.0%<\/td><\/tr>
Earnings per share<\/td>114.7 cents<\/td>137.6 cents<\/td>+20.0%<\/td><\/tr>
Headline earnings per share<\/td>114.6 cents<\/td>137.5 cents<\/td>+20.0%<\/td><\/tr>
Total dividend per share<\/td>45.74 cents<\/td>54.83 cents<\/td>+19.9%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Dis-Chem results for the year ended 28 February 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Revenue<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
(In R’million)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
(In R’million)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Earnings per Share<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Share Prices <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s two largest pharmacy chains both have strong businesses, but one is clearly in the lead. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":832749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4268,11649,11232,7708],"class_list":["post-832143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-clicks","tag-dis-chem","tag-psg-wealth","tag-sasfin-securities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832143"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833116,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832143\/revisions\/833116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}