Since making its debut on the local bourse seven months ago, Dis-Chem's share price has risen about 40%. Now the pharmaceutical retailer is looking to up the ante with acquisitions. CEO Ivan Saltzman said on Thursday that there were potential mergers and acquisitions in the pipeline for the group. He would not disclose details, but said that any acquisitions "would be aligned to what we do". Although it's early days for Dis-Chem on the JSE, the company, which was established in 1978, has big plans to expand to 200 stores in two to five years, a plan that Alec Abraham, a senior equity analyst at Sasfin Securities, described as "ambitious". "They've got quite ambitious store targets in terms of stores, so to open new stores is a tall order. "If they can buy pharmacies or small groups of pharmacies just to bump up the new store numbers, I certainly think that makes sense," said Abraham. "They've got 108 stores and they want to try and double that over the next two years, so that's goin...
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