Chemist Warehouse earnings surge on weight-loss drugs

Profits are booming for the owner of Chemist Warehouse since buying the pharmacy giant, backed by a boom in weight-loss drugs.

Sigma Healthcare, which rounded out its first financial year with Chemist Warehouse since completing the takeover in February 2025, grew its revenue by more than 15 per cent to $10.8 billion in the 12 months to June 30.

The growth was driven by new stores across its Australian and overseas networks and a 75 per cent sales surge in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

"GLP-1s have provided a structural tailwind, which we expect to continue," chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder told an earnings briefing on Thursday.

And options for the drug are expected to continue to widen for customers.

"What's interesting for me is when the oral dose will be registered in Australia - I truly believe that's a real tailwind for the business," Mr Ramsunder said.

"If the government puts it onto the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), which is obviously still being negotiated, and the oral dose comes into Australia, I think the market size starts to grow materially."

Sigma posted a normalised net profit after tax of $732.3 million for 2025/26, up 23 per cent on the previous year, while reducing its debt to a still hefty $663 million.

There are now almost 660 Chemist Warehouse stores globally, including 560 across Australia, 75 in New Zealand and 18 in Ireland, which grew sales by 45 per cent and turned a profit for the first time.

Including Sigma's other brands like Amcal, DDS and Guardian, it owns and runs nearly 1,000 pharmacies worldwide.

The company declared a final dividend of two cents per share, meeting its target to pay out between half and 70 per cent of the year's bottom-line profit.

Despite the sales and earnings growth, the result was deemed mixed by market analysts, who had expected higher sales growth for the Australian business.

Sigma shares fell more than six per cent in morning trading to $2.66 before recovering to $2.73 heading into lunch.

Chemist Warehouse has delivered double-digit like-for-like sales growth for roughly a decade, and Mr Ramsunder said the group was targeting the same in the years to come.