Super-Pharm may be forced to halt expansion in Poland – report

Pharmacy chain Super-Pharm is at risk of losing one of its most profitable growth channels, due to pending legislation that might block the chain from opening new branches, according to a report in Haaretz on Thursday. The Israeli-owned chain, which has 68 branches in Poland, has said that its Polish operations are extremely profitable, and help offset the falling sales and profitability of its Israeli branches. “In an attempt to continue growing, we are sacrificing our operating and gross profit in order to lower prices in Israel, while our profit sources are in Poland and China,” CEO Nitzan Lavie had said at a press conference in 2016. The bill, which has not yet been passed by both the upper and lower houses in the Polish parliament, would limit pharmacy chains to owning no more than four branches. Chains that already own more than four branches would not be permitted to open new branches.