McPherson’s is one of Australia’s leading suppliers of health, beauty and beauty products with operations in New Zealand and Asia. The company is best-known for its stable of market-leading brands, including Manicare, Lady Jayne, Dr LeWinn’s, A’kin, Swisspers and Moosehead and partner brands such as Karen Murrell and Dr Wolff.
2021 was a mixed bag year as the daigou market in Australia slumped because of the absence of international students. The company also fended off two takeover bids from Kin Group subsidiary Gallin and Arrotex, Australia’s largest generic pharmaceutical and private label OTC medicines company.
McPherson’s has signed a major distribution deal with Chemist Warehouse in exchange for 9.9 per cent of its capital. The distributor’s sales soared 15 per cent on the news of the agreement.
McPherson’s will become the exclusive distributor of a curated selection of Chemist Warehouse owned or controlled health and wellness brands outside the pharmacy giant’s network in Australia and New Zealand for an initial five year period from July 1st. A stable including Wagner Vitamins, Wagner Body Science, Foster Grant, Bondi Protein, INC and Microgenics.
Chemist Warehouse will expand the number of McPherson’s brands it currently stocks in Australia and New Zealand to include Sugar Baby, Happy Flora, Fusion Health, Moosehead, Maseur and Stratton. The pharmacy major will also give McPherson’s preferred supplier status.
McPherson’s is delighted to welcome Chemist Warehouse into our share register as a significant shareholder, and to be entering into a strategic alliance with our largest customer that is strongly aligned to our growth aspirations in the health, wellness and beauty categories, says Ari Mervis, Chairman of McPherson’s.
“The strong support to be provided by Chemist Warehouse for our core brands as well as the incremental ranging in-store and online for our health and beauty brands is expected to accelerate our growth domestically as well as internationally through Chemist Warehouse’s physical and e-commerce platforms,” he added.
