// LloydsPharmacy continues its store divestment with the sale of travel clinics Masta
// It comes as chief executive Kevin Birch stepped down from his role last month
LloydsPharmacy parent company Hallo Healthcare has sold its private travel clinic company Masta as the chain continues to offload stores.
It comes as Companies House filings reveal chief executive Kevin Birch stepped down from his post last month after just eight months at the helm.
The company said that while Birch had “stepped back from his operational role”, he “will continue to support the company strategically”.
The firm confirmed 32 of its Masta travel clinics had been acquired by Irish-led travel group Nomad Travel last week.
The sale follows the closure of all 237 branches of LloydsPharmacy inside Sainsbury’s last week, which were due to be phased out over the next year but were brought forward. The move is thought to have put 2,000 jobs at risk.
The recent closures and sale of its travel clinics come as the pharmacy, which was snapped up by private equity firm Aurelius last year, continues to offload stores.
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Filings on Companies House reveal the chain has divided its estate into more than 82 smaller companies, named LP North One up to LP North Twenty-Five and LP SD One up to LP SD Fifty-Four, all incorporated between November 2022 and June 2023.
It has been selling off tranches of stores over recent months, with Numark-owned Rowlands Pharmacy acquiring 30 branches in Scotland.
Elsewhere, five stores have been sold to Davidsons Chemists and five to Kamsons Pharmacy.
“LloydsPharmacy is reviewing its community pharmacy estate and is selectively selling some branches,” the company said in a statement, but did not disclose how many it was looking to offload.
“The majority of buyers of these selected branches are independent pharmacy owners and local business people who have demonstrated their commitment to our branch teams and patients and are well placed to meet the ongoing health needs of the local community.”
“In addition to this, LloydsPharmacy were also pleased to confirm in May 2023 that colleagues from 30 of its branches in Scotland will be joining the Numark family.”
“The LloydsPharmacy team is pleased that its colleagues from these stores will be joining successful, local businesses and that for patients there will be no change in the way they use their local pharmacy.”
The changes come as the healthcare group looks to recover from widening losses following the pandemic and a change in government support for the sector.
It posted a loss of £66m in the year to 31 March 2022, down from £100.8m, which it attributed to “optimising its portfolio of pharmacies”.
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