COMPETITION TRIBUNAL APPROVES NEW CLICKS ACQUISITI
Competition Tribunal Approves New Clicks Acquisition
Release Date: 04/08/2003 16:04:15 Code(s): JSE NCL
COMPETITION TRIBUNAL APPROVES NEW CLICKS ACQUISITION
Company: New Clicks Holdings
JSE Code: NCL
ISIN: ZAE000014585
Cape Town - The Competition Tribunal today granted unconditional approval for
New Clicks Holdings to acquire four companies, namely Purchase Milton &
Associates (Pty) Ltd, Milton & Associates (Pty) Ltd, J&G Purchase (Pty) Ltd and
Leon Katz (Pty) Ltd. These companies are collectively referred to as PM&A and
operate 83 pharmacies around the country.
Trevor Honneysett, group leader of New Clicks, welcomed the outcome of the
Tribunal hearing, saying the approval paves the way for the establishment of the
first Clicks pharmacies and ultimately the introduction of pharmacy dispensaries
into Clicks stores.
This follows recent amendments to the Pharmacy Act which allows for corporate
ownership of pharmacies and dispensaries, provided the store is under the
continuous supervision of a registered pharmacist.
Clicks will now apply to the Department of Health for the transfer of licences
for the 83 PM&A stores, whereafter a phased conversion and rebranding programme
will take place.
In 2001 New Clicks provided funding to PM&A to purchase the pharmacies, with a
future sale agreement to acquire them once the legislation was changed to allow
New Clicks to own pharmacies.
Honneysett said PM&A was a strategic investment which will now form the
cornerstone of the group"s retail pharmacy plans in South Africa. Despite
reporting a trading loss of R8,2 million for the first six months of the New
Clicks financial year, PM&A is expecting an improved operating performance for
the second half of the year. The directors are confident that the turnaround in
PM&A is sustainable and that the longer term prospects are favourable in a
deregulated pharmacy environment.
Besides its association with PM&A, other interests which form a core part of the
New Clicks healthcare strategy are its ownership of pharmaceutical distribution
company, New United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), and the 56% interest in
the Link Investment Trust (LIT) which has 250 Link franchise stores.
Ends
Issued by Tier 1 Investor Relations on behalf of New Clicks Holdings
For further information contact
Trevor Honneysett, New Clicks Holdings (021) 460-1167 / 083 700 0322
Tier 1 Investor Relations (021) 702-3102 / 082 555 8721
Date: 04/08/2003 04:04:20 PM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za
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