Sustainability strategy

The group remains steadfast in its strategic focus to deliver affordable, high-quality healthcare products and services through an accessible network, supporting customers and communities to lead healthier lives.

The group continues to meet its customers’ expectations through its customer-centric value offering, delivered through convenience, innovative products and affordable pricing.

In the past year the group opened 51 stores and nine pharmacies, bringing the total retail presence to 936 stores and 720 pharmacies. The group offers an extensive range of generic medicines, accounting for 59% of pharmacy sales (2023: 59%) and 69% of pharmacy volume (2023: 70%). Additionally, the value and affordability were enhanced through the Clicks ClubCard loyalty programme, which returned R780 million in cashback rewards to customers.

The group continued to leverage its Clicks clinic network to provide 128 955 (2023: 112 217) free primary healthcare assessments and services to beneficiaries without medical aid through the Clicks Helping Hand Trust (CHHT). CHHT supported several initiatives to deepen its social impact and ability to reach more vulnerable beneficiaries. Its partnership with Transnet’s Phelophepa Health Trains aims to deliver healthcare services to 350 000 beneficiaries across South Africa, offering professional health services and products in optometry, dentistry, psychology, primary healthcare and other psychosocial interventions.

In addition, the group’s pilot Student on the Go programme, an intervention initiated by the University of Witwatersrand, now supports 1 190 vulnerable students with access to sanitary towels. The Clicks ClubCard enables easy redemption for students at conveniently located Clicks stores.

Transformation, including diversity, equity and inclusion, is a strategic imperative driving initiatives across the group, its supplier base and communities.

The group participates in improving the social and economic well-being of its stakeholders and reaffirmed its commitment to the Global UN principles while further strengthening its leadership position in the Global UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, with its overall score improving from 79% to 89%. This achievement is underpinned by seven gender empowerment principles that must be met, reaffirming the group’s commitment to gender equality as a key driver of responsible and sustainable business practices.

The board is diverse in terms of gender, race, skills, qualifications and experience. At year-end, 67% of the directors were black and 44% female. The group is led by the first black female CEO of a JSE-listed retailer and 80% of the group’s executive management team is black. This diversity permeates across the group and includes 2.52% representivity of people with disabilities or impairments, 95.2% black and 62% female. In addition, the group maintained its gender pay ratio of 1:1. In recognition of the progress in promoting gender diversity, CEO Bertina Engelbrecht won three awards for leadership in supporting gender diversity and inclusion at the 2023 Gender Mainstreaming Awards. The group was also a finalist in two other categories.

The group continues to invest in the development of youth within communities and in its employees. The New Clicks Foundation bursary scheme supported 35* students with obligation-free bursaries totalling R2.3 million* (2023: R5.1 million). The bursaries included 33 pharmacy students and two students pursuing courses in areas of scarce and critical skills. The group invested R185 million (2023: R135 million) in training and skills development and registered a record 531 learner basic pharmacy assistants while promoting 1 885 employees with 1 154 being female employees during the year.

The employee wellness programme was enhanced to include complementary access to personal services and training programmes across emotional, physical, financial and legal wellness. This encompasses one-on-one and group counselling and coaching services, including support for family or work teams. The financial pillar offers preferential saving and lending rates through partnerships with two of South Africa’s leading financial institutions, delivering benefits of R281 000 to employees in the financial year.

The group’s supplier development programme supported 40 small enterprises with total contributions reaching R78 million (2023: R57 million). 48% of these beneficiaries were women owned. The Sorbet-Preneur programme offers the opportunity for Sorbet employees to own a Sorbet salon franchise. Three female employees were selected to establish their own salons and were supported through a structured programme that included mentorship, training and financial contribution to ensure their success.

The group is committed to combating gender-based violence (GBV) and harassment, recognising their importance for the well-being of employees and communities. Through a partnership with the Thuthuzela Care Centres, operating under the auspices of the National Prosecuting Authority, the group implemented policies and training programmes to enhance awareness, prevention and its response to GBV, thereby promoting a culture of respect, tolerance and equality. Additionally, CHHT supported 51 Thuthuzela Care Centres nationwide with dignity personal care items for GBV survivors.

* Subsequent to the 2024 year-end, an additional 56 bursaries were paid totalling R3.3 million, bringing the FY2024 total to 91 bursaries and R5.6 million invested.

The group remains committed to ensuring that its entire value chain operates sustainably through its ongoing efforts towards responsible sourcing of products, reducing its environmental footprint and fostering ethical practices across its supply chain. Sourcing products that maintain the integrity of the group’s brand is paramount. The group ensures rigorous product development, quality management and regulatory control to endeavour to ensure that every product meets the highest standards. All suppliers are required to comply with Clicks’ supply chain protocols and adhere to relevant regulatory and industry requirements. Quality is maintained through relevant industry International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) certification. Ethical and sustainability standards are upheld through Sedex, Business Social Compliance Initiative audits and compliance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil guidelines. The Clicks private label supplier audit programme monitors suppliers’ compliance with the group’s stringent quality, ethical and sustainable requirements. Through these comprehensive efforts, the group continues to uphold the integrity of its products and brand while advancing sustainable practices. As part of its transformation imperatives, the group places a strong emphasis on supporting local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). With only 7.5% (2023: 8%) of its products directly imported, the group prioritises local procurement. For the third consecutive year, the group’s commitment to this strategy is evident through the procurement spend exceeding R1 billion in support of local SMMEs while the group’s supplier development programme continues to enable the sustainable growth of its beneficiaries. The renowned local beauty brand, Portia M, a supplier development beneficiary since 2019, serves as a prime example, having successfully graduated from the programme after its turnover exceeded the R50 million threshold.

The group accelerated the rollout of renewable solar energy at its distribution centres (DCs) and head office facilities with a target production of 4 500 MWh of solar power each year. Significantly lower levels of load shedding in the 2024 financial year, combined with battery storage installation at the head office and UPD Lea Glen DC, materially improved overall renewable energy generation by 41% to 5 135 MWh (2023: 3 636 MWh).

The group’s initiatives to minimise the environmental footprint included a phased approach to replacing lights with light emitting diodes (LEDs) and implementing improved cooling systems (refrigeration and air-conditioning) leading to a 57% reduction in the use of R22 gas across the business, significantly reducing energy consumption and promoting energy efficiency.

To further reduce emissions, the group optimised fleet delivery routes, resulting in a reduction of 385 635 kilometres travelled at UPD compared to the previous year. Additionally, UPD invested in a new logistics enterprise development programme, offering employees an opportunity to become business owners. This initiative, rooted in sustainable business practices, employs electric vehicles to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, potentially saving approximately 2.4 million litres of diesel and reducing CO₂ emissions by 6.3 million kg, thus advancing our carbon neutrality journey over the vehicles’ lifespan.

The group subscribes to the SA Plastics Pact which seeks to address four fundamental areas: taking action on problematic and unnecessary plastic; 100% of plastic to be reusable, recyclable or compostable; a minimum of 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled; and a minimum of 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging. To align with these areas, the group has implemented sustainable packaging practices, adhering to design-for-recyclability guidelines, prominently displaying on-pack recycling logos and introducing recyclable materials such as polyethylene terephthalate in packaging. Furthermore, through its partnership with EPR Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) and Polyco the group tracks responsible recycling of packaging and electrical waste, underscoring its dedication to sustainable practices. At the group’s head office, borehole groundwater is used to reduce dependence on municipal water. This ensures continuous water availability for ablution systems to mitigate potential drought events, with 5 084 kilolitres of water being accessed from groundwater.