Sensiblu had 710 drugstores in 2020, ten units fewer than in 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic also affected the pharmaceuticals industry. In 2020, Sensiblu switched to loss of RON47.4 million, due to reorganizing the company’s structure, according to Sensiblu representatives.
“We want to mention that in 2020, we started an ample process of simplifying the structure of the A&D Pharma holding with a view to being left in the end with two operating companies in Romania: Mediplus and Sensiblu. These reorganizations, which also translates into changes in the shareholding structure of the two companies, generated non-tax loss for Sensiblu and non-operating profit for Mediplus (one offs). If we were to eliminate these one-off elements and to analyse only the operating result, the, both Sensiblu and Mediplus would have been profitable in 2021“, according to company representatives.
In December 2017, the shareholding structure of A&D Pharma was also joined by Penta Investments, a Czech investment fund which also acquired the pharmacy division and the medicine distribution division for nearly EUR350 million, per ZF sources, the biggest transaction on the pharmaceutical retail market.
A&D Pharma Group has been operating on the local medicine market for over 20 years.
Romania has a total 8,100 pharmacies, fewer than in 2018. Pharmacy chains Catena, Dr. Max (Sensiblu), Help Net, Dona and Ropharma, which control hundreds of units across Romania, are the largest players on the local market.