1. At a Glance – The Chemist Who Became a Corporate Animal
MedPlus Health Services Ltd currently sits at a market cap of ₹9,573 crore, trading near ₹799, down from its glory high of ₹1,052. In the last 3 months, the stock is up ~4.7%, which is respectable if you ignore the emotional damage done over the last year.
Operationally, this is a monster: 4,930 pharmacy stores, ₹6,538 crore TTM revenue, and ₹207 crore TTM PAT. But financially? ROE at 8.8% and ROCE at 10.3% suggest MedPlus is still warming up after a long jog.
Margins are improving, store productivity is stabilising, and PAT growth is strong. Yet the stock trades at 46× earnings with 60.7% promoter pledge, which means the market is hopeful but paranoid.
So is MedPlus a disciplined retailer scaling profitably, or a discount machine running on borrowed patience? Let’s open the strip pack and read the label.
2. Introduction – From Neighbourhood Chemist to Balance Sheet Gym
MedPlus is India’s second-largest pharmacy retailer, and unlike many “tech-enabled” startups, it actually sells medicines that people need daily. Chronic therapy patients don’t disappear in recessions. That’s MedPlus’ core moat.
But scale comes at a cost. Retail pharmacies are a low-margin, high-discipline business. Inventory, compliance, rent, staffing, and regulation can quickly turn growth into indigestion.
MedPlus chose
the hard path:
- Mostly company-owned stores (~95%)
- Aggressive discounting on chronic drugs
- Heavy backend investment
This is not a franchise fairy tale. This is a grind.
The result? Strong revenue growth, improving margins, but balance sheet stress and promoter pledging that keeps investors awake at night.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
MedPlus runs a pan-India pharmacy retail chain, selling:
- Prescription medicines
- OTC & wellness products
- FMCG and daily essentials
Revenue comes primarily from branded pharma (64.4%), with private labels slowly creeping in to fatten margins.
The model works on high volumes, thin margins, and ruthless supply-chain efficiency. They source 80%+ directly from manufacturers, bypassing distributors and squeezing costs.
Think of MedPlus as:
D-Mart with pharmacists instead of cashiers.
4. Financials Overview – The Numbers Don’t Lie, They Just Whisper
Quarterly Comparison Table (₹ crore)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec FY26) | YoY Qtr | Prev Qtr | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 1,806 | 1,561 | 1,679 | 15.7% | 7.6% |
| EBITDA | 159 | 133 | 149 | 19.5% | 6.7% |
| PAT | 57.8 | 45.9 | 55.8 | 26.0% | 3.6% |
| EPS (₹) | 4.82 | 3.83 | 4.63 | 25.8% | 4.1% |
