Liverpool pharmacy chain RB Healthcare grows revenues to £16.5m and cuts losses despite ongoing issues with NHS funding which puts the entire pharmacy sector in England under significant pressure. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool pharmacy chain RB Healthcare (RBH) says its restructure after a turbulent couple of years was paying off as it continues to reduce its losses.
RBH, which operates 15 community pharmacies in Liverpool city region and across the North West, breached its loan covenants in early 2024. This led to a refinancing of its debts and a restructure of the business.
In its annual accounts for the 12 months to November 30, 2025, posted on Companies House, the business reported a 5% increase in revenues to £16.5m and pre-tax losses of £168,237 – much lower than the £577,502 pre-tax losses in the previous year.
Like many other pharmacies and pharmacy chains across the UK, the company has had to contend with falls in NHS funding. Industry representatives claim NHS funding for pharmacies has fallen by 40% since 2015 when adjusted for inflation.
In May this year, Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the representative and advocacy body for all community pharmacy owners in England, secured a 10.3% rise in annual funding for its members to more than £3.6bn.
This was higher than the general uplift in NHS funding but CPE says it was “reluctant” to accept the deal which it believes still falls short of what is needed to end what it calls the “ongoing crisis in pharmacies”.
“Community Pharmacy England has warned Government that the pressures on pharmacies will mean continued closures, reduced opening hours, deteriorating quality of service and risks unavoidable harm to patients,” it said.
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Writing in the annual report, directors and principal shareholders Rishi Bhatia and Dr Sumit Kochhar, said the restructure plan had resulted in improvements to the underlying performance of the business but added NHS funding “still falls short of what is required”.
They also said: “the recent increase in demand for private services provides the directors with confidence that they will be able to increase the profitability of the group through organic growth under their business plan.”
RBH paid out shareholder dividends of £319,341 to the directors of the company and their close family. The business employed 137 people during the accounting period.