Dis-Chem share price falls after JSE listing

Johannesburg – Dis-Chem Pharmacies share price fell by over 8% after listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Friday.

The family-owned pharmacy and health company made its debut at R23.36 a share. The price subsequently fell to R21.28, and settled at R21.48 when markets closed.

Dis-Chem is the fourteenth company to list on the JSE this year. The retailer currently has 101 stores in South Africa and two partner stores in Namibia. It is South Africa’s second-biggest retail chain of chemists, the biggest being Clicks.

In contrast, Clicks’ market capitalisation is at R28bn. 

The listing is part of the Dis-Chem group’s growth strategy.

READ: Dis-Chem plans JSE listing as it doubles pharmacies

“Listing will allow us to advance and improve our strategy, and at the same time ensure that we can continue growing market share across our product offerings, as well as building on the tremendous brand positioning that has been established over the last 38 years,” said CEO and co-founder Ivan Saltzman.

The company has “more than doubled” its store base since 2010, and tripled it since 2008. Dis-Chem plans to open at least 18 stores by February 2018, according to Saltzman. Besides pharmaceuticals, the company specialises in beauty, health and health food, sports supplements and well-being products.

Dis-Chem joins eight other companies listed in the food and drug retailers sector on the JSE. The sector has a total market capitalisation of R220.39bn, this is 2% of the JSE’s overall market capitalisation of R13.6tr.

Earlier this week, the company stated that it raised R4.4bn through the placement of 236.8m shares at R18.50 per share.

The shares placed on listing represent 27.5% of Dis-Chem’s issued share capital.