big question marks ??????????, page-134

The proposed Discount Warehouse model will be interesting ..... if the Pharmacy Guild is arguing that 1700 Pharmacies are at risk of closing down because of PBS changes then how can Chemist Warehouse be making enough money to be able to list on asx and presumably claim its got a good future? I can only assume that they will be copying the Priceline franchise model which might multiply their chances to expand faster than Priceline.

The history of Chemist Warehouse was interestingly given a free leg up by a Sigma executive who decided they could show higher sales and profits by extending credit terms out to 12 months and holding their stock in chemists instead of in their warehouses. Sigma nearly went broke when new management discovered the manipulation I allege and decided to abruptly reduce credit terms to 30 days. This saw a number of pharmacies go bankrupt because some owners decided to invest in horses and not the business. Now Sigma faces a possibility of losing the supply contract of the child it fostered into high places..it seems. Who else would supply CW?
imo it would be an adventurous person to be investing in any pharmacy shareholdings at this stage even though API does look good value. Will be interesting to read the Warehouse prospectus.