 |
| David Wood: Numark shareholders will receive preferential terms from NTL |
Numark Ltd and Phoenix Medical Supplies Ltd are to establish a trading company
which will supply independent community pharmacies with non-prescription medicines
and other front-of-shop pharmacy goods.
The new company, Numark Trading Ltd (NTL), will make once-weekly deliveries,
fully made up with invoices, to pharmacies or their designated wholesalers.
The service will be open to all pharmacies in Great Britain, whether or not
they are Numark shareholders. The company will start operations on January 1,
2001.
Speaking at a Numark suppliers’ meeting at Stratford-upon-Avon on October
20, Mr David Wood (deputy managing director, Numark) said that NTL would negotiate
on behalf of all of Numark’s and Phoenix’s over-the-counter business
in Britain. It would also negotiate for a proportion of the OTC business of
Numark’s independent wholesale partners, subject to final negotiations,
and for Phoenix’s 205-strong community pharmacy chain. NTL would negotiate
and administer Numark’s monthly promotional programme.
The new company would only be supplying OTC products. Numark would retain control
over its National Health Service business, including generics and parallel imports,
and its retail services and information technology developments.
Mr Wood said that the benefits of NTL for Numark shareholders would be that
they would receive preferential terms from NTL and have a share in the ownership
of their own distribution company. Half of the profits made by NTL would be
retained by Numark. By 2002, shareholders should be receiving more profit than
they would have done from Numark alone.
Mr David Cole (commercial director, Phoenix) said that Phoenix could have afforded
to do its own thing, but it had chosen to put its weight behind Numark as part
of a long-term strategy.
NTL is to be owned equally by Numark and Phoenix. The company will be based
at Numark’s recently expanded offices at Tamworth, West Midlands, and run
by general manager Mr John Ross, group sales manager at Phoenix. A board of
management under an independent chairman is to be set up. NTL will own its stock
but warehousing and deliveries will be subcontracted. Numark intends to set
up a similar joint venture with United Drug Plc covering both the north and
south of Ireland.
Mr Terry Norris (managing director, Numark) told The Journal that Numark felt
that both the dispensing and non-dispensing parts of a pharmacy business needed
to be strong to cope with the changes outlined by Pharmacy in a New Age and
the national pharmacy plan. This was why NTL was being established.
“We do not want our shareholders to be wasting time on making purchasing
decisions. They need to be spending more time with patients,” he said.
In a statement issued on October 23, Mr John Davies (retail services director,
Mawdsley-Brooks & Co Ltd) said that the formation of NTL did not change
the situation as far as Numark’s independent wholesale partners were concerned.
While the practicalities of the new venture remained to be negotiated, the wholesalers’
commitment to Numark shareholders through the existing distribution chain continued
as normal.
Numark’s independent wholesale partners are Mawdsley-Brooks, PIF Medical
Supplies Ltd, Graham Tatford & Co Ltd, East Anglian Pharmaceuticals Ltd
and Sangers (Maidstone) Ltd.
n Numark in Europe Numark Ltd is exploring entering certain European markets
with Phoenix Medical Supplies Ltd as its partner the company said on October
20.
Numark Ltd is to extend the division of its members’ pharmacies into different
clusters for merchandising and promotional purposes to cover all non-prescription
medicines.
Mr Ray Beadle (sales director, Spectra Marketing Ltd) and Mr Ian Jacks (marketing
manager, IMS Ltd) explained to Numark’s suppliers’ meeting at Stratford-upon-Avon
on October 20 that data from consumer surveys and population censuses were combined
with pharmacy stock purchase data to divide the United Kingdom into around 1,600
“bricks”. By matching the location of Numark members’ pharmacies
with demographic data on the relevant bricks and 12 months of stock purchase
data it was possible to define three clusters (urban affluent, middle-class
rural, and urban and downscale). These cluster were then split north and south
to produce six different clusters each with its own category plan. Numark would
be sending its shareholders relevant cluster merchandising guides in the new
year.