Nope , this sector is a different sort of beast. A lot of pharmacies were 80/20 ..80% turnover from scripts , 20% OTC , including health and beauty. Because the 80% script revenue is Govt price control , many pharmacies looked at ways to increase OTC sales. One way was to join a banner group ..priceline/amcal/guardian/discount drug stores etc. Most of these banner groups are owned and controlled by the major wholesalers . This was successful during the mid to late 2000s , then along came CW and turned the whole Pharmacy world upside down. CW put massive pressure on OTC margins , Govt put pressure on script margins , general retail downtrend and this sector has major problems imo.
Govt will not look favourably on a merger with other wholesalers , API/Sigma merger has been whispered about for 15 years , but always with the Govt approval being the stumbling point. High turnover , low EBIT , have to maintain turnover otherwise....
API Price at posting:
$1.38 Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Held