Superdrug announces profits of £45m despite challenging trading conditions

London-headquartered, Superdrug, the UK’s second largest health and beauty retailer reports increase in profit and revenue, despite challenging trading conditions

Despite ongoing disruption from COVID-19, Superdrug has shown strong pandemic recovery and reported profit before tax of £45.3m, giving the retailer positive momentum to take into 2022.

Peter Macnab, CEO, Superdrug, commented: “Our annual reports show that 2021 was another year spent tackling the effects of COVID-19 and I would like to thank our 13,100 colleagues for the continued energy, commitment and passion they have put into making Superdrug the strong and resilient business it is today.

“The inflationary environment started by the COVID-19 pandemic has now been accelerated by the Ukraine crisis and we see significant pressure on retail’s operating margins, as well as reduced consumer confidence and disposable income.

“We are working hard to support our customers through these challenging times and doing what we can to minimise the impact of price rises, as we stand firm in our mission to bring the very best of accessible health and beauty to the high street.

“Although we expect the UK retail environment to remain challenging, the resilience of our online and healthcare channels, coupled with our clear future strategy to operate in both the Offline and Online channels, focus on our cost base, and drive efficiencies that can be invested in improving our customer and colleague offering, leaves us well positioned to grow successfully in 2022 and beyond.”

Superdrug’s online healthcare channels, both the Online Doctor and the eNHS services, continued to grow and complement the provision of healthcare services in-store through its 194 pharmacies.

Superdrug pharmacies distributed more than 200,000 Covid lateral flow tests as part of the NHS pharmacy collect service and 200,000 patients received their COVID-19 vaccinations delivered by Superdrug pharmacists on behalf of the NHS.

Further customer delivery options such as “Store to Door”, where customers place online orders in store to bolster local range and availability, and two-hour “Rapid Home Delivery” also went live in 2021, underpinning Superdrug’s “O+O” strategy (offline plus online), providing seamless accessibility and experience, regardless of how customers choose to start or conclude their shopping mission.

The company also invested in 14 new stores, resulting in a trading estate of 796 stores at the financial period end.