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Employee-owned pharmacy chain Green Light has said a pre-tax loss of £1.1m in the 2023-24 financial year was the result of amortising assets.  

Green Light Healthcare’s Companies House filing for the 12 months to June 30, 2024 show that it made a pre-tax loss of £1.1m compared to a pre-tax loss of £749,000 the year before.  

At 30 June 2024 the group had net liabilities of £776,576, a climbdown from the £465,636 in net assets it held in 2023. 

Turnover decreased from £14.9m in 2023 to £14.2m in 2024, although gross profit was up by almost £1m and 

“The directors consider the performance for the year and the financial position at the year-end to be below expectations albeit in difficult trading conditions for the industry as a whole,” the report states, adding that 2023-24 was “a tough financial year”.

“Going forwards, the group will alongside improved procurement be concentrating on growing service revenue streams to bolster operating performance, especially by increasing the delivery of private and newly commissioned NHS services,” said the company. 

Trading conditions have improved since July 2024, said Green Light, commenting: “Following a challenging 2023-24 the future prospects of the company appear positive with a clear opportunity to realise sustained growth under improved contractual arrangements.”

Speaking to P3pharmacy, Green Light director John Foreman said “it looks like a massive trading loss” but “it’s actually only on paper” as it reflects the amortisation of the goodwill value for some older pharmacies.  

“Our share price has actually gone up in value because there is still EBIDTA profit,” Mr Foreman added.  

But he acknowledged ongoing challenges, commenting that “the remuneration on dispensing is just really low”. 

Commenting on the company’s efforts to sell a 25 per cent stake to private investors, he said Green Light is awaiting HMRC’s approval of the higher share price, adding: “We are talking to some interested equity investors with pharmacy sector experience who are very interested in our model.”