Celesio, which owns the Unicare and Cahill May Roberts chains in Ireland, has today reduced the value of its Irish pharmacies by €85million as part of a €274 million writedown.
The announcement comes just months after the German-based drugs distributor wrote down the value of its pharmacies in the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Italy by €287 million to reflect higher business risks.
In a statement this morning, Celesio said the latest writedowns were mainly due to unfavourable regulatory changes and affect drug retail outlets in Ireland, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy.
"In Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy, where we don't have critical mass in the pharmacy business, we are not in a position to react well to regulatory changes,"said chief executive Fritz Oesterle.
Mr Oesterle said the company was considering its options in these markets, adding that expansion options were limited because virtually no pharmacy has been put up for sale in any of the countries over the last two years.
Despite the writedowns the group raised its outlook for full-year core earnings to €625 million from slightly more than €600 million, citing solid demand at its drug wholesale business.
Its shares were down 0.8 per cent at €18.37 in early trading, paring initial gains after the statement was released.
Celesio also announced today it is to delay its goal to have 500 franchise partners for its DocMorris pharmacy brand in Germany to 2015.
Business in its main pharmacy markets in Britain and Norway, which accounts for about 80 per cent of the company's retail revenue, remained satisfactory, Celesio added.
Unicare, which operates 72 pharmacies in Dublin, Laois, Westmeath, Cork, Limerick, Wexford, Co Waterford, Kildare and Kilkenny, was acquired by Celesio (formerly Gehe) for €157million in 2001.
Additional reporting: Reuters
