FPT Long Châu reaches 1,600 pharmacies.

FPT Long Châu Pharmacy Chain is continuously expanding.

Recently, FPT Long Chau announced that it officially reached the milestone of 1,600 pharmacies in December 2023, becoming the pharmaceutical retail chain with the largest number of pharmacies in Vietnam. Long Chau Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, the owner of the FPT Long Chau pharmacy chain, is a subsidiary of FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company (stock code: FRT).

This is a rather impressive figure, realizing the development plan for the FPT Long Chau pharmacy chain that was affirmed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT Retail – Nguyen Bach Diep – at the beginning of 2023. That plan was to focus its efforts on the FPT Long Chau pharmacy chain in 2023, aiming to open an additional 400 stores, bringing the total number of stores in the chain to 1,400 to 1,500.

FPT Retail's 2023 Annual Shareholders' Meeting.

Accordingly, a rather bright "prospect" was reported when, according to the 2023 plan, FPT Retail expected the FPT Long Châu pharmacy chain to bring in 14,000 billion VND. However, the continuous effort to push the number of Long Châu stores to surpass An Khang and Pharmacity has not actually brought FPT Retail the results as expected.

Losses for two consecutive quarters, liabilities 5.5 times equity.

In the third quarter of 2023, FPT Retail recorded a 6.8% increase in net revenue compared to the same period last year, reaching VND 8,236 billion. However, financial revenue decreased by more than half to VND 21.3 billion, while operating expenses increased sharply to nearly VND 1,400 billion, resulting in a net profit decrease of 98.6% compared to the same period last year, falling to a mere VND 1.4 billion.

As a result, FPT Retail reported a net loss of 13 billion VND, compared to a profit of 85.3 billion VND in the same period last year. The after-tax loss attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 21.1 billion VND. This marks FRT's second consecutive quarter of losses, following a record loss of 215 billion VND in the second quarter. Previously, in the first quarter of the year, the company only recorded a net profit of just over 2 billion VND.

For the first nine months of the year, FPT Retail recorded revenue of VND 23,160 billion, a 6.7% increase compared to the same period last year. However, high selling and administrative expenses caused the company to shift from a profit of over VND 300 billion in the same period last year to a net loss of nearly VND 226 billion in the first nine months of the year.

In 2023, FPT Retail set a target of achieving consolidated revenue of VND 34,000 billion and after-tax profit of VND 192 billion. With the results achieved after three-quarters of the year, the company is still far from its profit target and is likely to fail to meet its 2023 plan unless there is a significant improvement in the fourth quarter.

As of September 30th, FPT Retail's total assets reached VND 11,720 billion, an increase of over VND 1,200 billion compared to the beginning of the year. Of this, over 62% was inventory with an ending value of nearly VND 7,300 billion. Cash and short-term deposits amounted to VND 1,580 billion, a decrease of approximately VND 300 billion compared to the beginning of the year.

Notably, the company's liabilities at the end of the third quarter increased by nearly 600 billion VND compared to the beginning of the year, exceeding 9,900 billion VND, 5.5 times its equity. Of this, short-term financial debt accounted for 57% with an ending balance of 5,650 billion VND, an increase of nearly 300 billion VND compared to the beginning of the year.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/fpt-long-chau-dat-1600-nha-thuoc-post276309.html