Rabbette Doubles Up Uniphar Share
With the state providing regular income for pharmacies through free and subsidised medicines for millions of citizens, sometimes it might seem that the sector is a one-way path to riches. It hasn’t worked out that way for former Dragons’ Den star Ramona Nicholas, whose Cara Pharmacy chain entered examinership in September.
Things have worked out better for Paddy Hickey (51), who built up the 36-strong chain of Hickey’s pharmacies and recently unloaded them to Uniphar. The plc already had 287 pharmacies operating under its symbol, and the takeover was waved through by the competition regulator.
Uniphar CEO Ger Rabbette loves buying companies, and the stock market loves him. After the Hickey’s deal, Uniphar also acquired two companies in the US. Uniphar floated in July 2019 and soon after acquired EPS Group and M3 Medical. Earlier this year, the company bought Innerstrength Health and snapped up UK company Durbin.
Even though earnings per share were down by a third to 4.9c at the half-year stage in June, the Uniphar share has doubled in value year-todate, bested only by Open Orphan, which has rewarded investors with 350% share price appreciation. Among the large-volume blue-chip counters, the best performers on Euronext Dublin through 2020 have been Flutter (49%), Kingspan (32%),
Kerry and Smurfit Kappa (10%) and, amazingly, Ryanair (9%). There is less cause for end-of-year cheer at Glanbia (2%), Total Produce (-2%), Origin (-4%), CRH (-8%), Irish Continental (-9%), and all the property plcs.
The Dalata Hotels share is 29% underwater from 1 January 2020, though in the past month the stock jumped 50%. It’s a similar story with AIB and Bank of Ireland, which both surged by c.50% through November but are still down over 40% from the start of 2020.