Superdrug strengthens its market share after delivering ‘strong’ results for three years running

In results for the full 2023 financial year, Superdrug reported a 43% surge in pre-tax profits to £111.6m, up from the previous year’s £77.8m. Total revenues for the same period jumped 11.8% to more than £1.5bn.

Volumes sales for total revenues increased by 4.2% year on year, which the retailer said was due to its own-brand ‘Made by’ products and ‘Exclusive to’ launches performing well during the period.

Superdrug’s total share of the UK beauty market jumped to 10.6%, up from 8.9% in 2022 – the third consecutive year the health and beauty giant has managed to grow market share in the UK.

The retailer hailed its “strong financials”, which, it said, were driven by “strong retail store sales and volume growth”.

The health and beauty brand opened 14 new stores during the period, focusing on what it called “prime retail destinations” such as The Trafford Centre in Manchester, Brent Cross Shopping Centre in London and Braehead, its largest store in Scotland.

Alongside new flagship locations, Superdrug also invested in modernising and refitting 45 existing stores, with new shop fronts, upgraded store Wi-Fi, new floor layouts and upgraded fascia and internal signage.

Superdrug chief executive Peter Macnab said: “Our vision is to be the UK’s leading accessible health and beauty retailer with high quality, affordable products at the heart of everything we do. Our financial results demonstrate the trust that customers are continually putting in us and I would like to thank our colleagues for their ongoing hard work and commitment and for living and breathing our vision every day.

“Over the last year, we’ve continued to invest into our store estate to provide customers with best-in class shopping experiences. The strong store sales growth gives us the confidence that our strategy is working, and new stores are being welcomed by customers and the local community.

“As inflation continued to put pressure on households, at Superdrug we’ve invested heavily to keep our prices competitive and help families keep costs down. In May 2023, we reduced prices by 20%, equivalent to VAT across the Solait sun protection range to help make products more affordable for families and rolled out additional members only pricing across own brand ranges. The Superdrug Mobile tariff was also frozen for another year following an investment in a new platform and 5G services to provide our customers with more value for money.”