(Bloomberg) -- A plan by South Africa’s largest drugs and personal-care products retailer to have a medicine dispensary in each of its stores is being helped by a pandemic-induced acceleration in the approval of licenses. 

Pharmacies and hospitals were a crucial part of South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination program. That, along with regulatory reforms this year, helped expedite the process of adding dispensaries, Clicks Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Bertina Engelbrecht said in an interview on Thursday.

“Pharmacy is a key driver,” she said. Those who pick up prescriptions “almost always also do a shop at the front of the store,” Engelbrecht said. 

This is helping develop two distinct peak trading periods as the Cape Town-based company’s retail sales crest during the summer Christmas season, while drugs turnover spikes six months later in South Africa’s winter.

Clicks is opening stores at a faster rate and has raised its five-year target by 300 outlets to 1,200, it said in an earlier results statement. 

The company also reported annual adjusted earnings and a dividend per share that beat estimates. The stock climbed 7.2% as of 3 p.m. in Johannesburg, heading for its biggest advance in two years. The benchmark FTSE/JSE Personal Care, Drug and Grocery Stores Index rose 0.9%.

Most of this growth will be through smaller neighborhood stores. 

“South Africa’s probably a bit over-saturated in terms of destination-store formats,” Engelbrecht said. Power cuts and rising fuel costs mean “having a convenient location that is easily accessible and close to where your customers live is an incredible advantage,” she said.

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