Jhoots Pharmacy chain could face insolvency after Lloyds Bank high court application | Retail industry
A struggling national pharmacy chain accused of being indebted to his proxies A deduction of £670,000 in unpaid wages was made in an application to place the business into insolvency proceedings.
Jhoots Chemist, trading under the name Jhoots Pharmacy, has been named to appoint an administrator in a high court application filed by Lloyds Bank on Monday.
The move comes after the company, which operates more than 100 outlets, was criticized by MPs in the autumn for failing to pay freelance pharmacists at the company’s branches. Chain is running by a businessman called Sarbjit Singh Jhooty from Walsall in the West Midlands.
In an urgent parliamentary debate in October on the group’s status, MPs voice concerns About the behavior of Jhoots pharmacies such as not opening branches, management of controlled drugs and failure to pay staff, landlords and other suppliers.
During the session, the Minister of Pharmacy, Stephen Kinnock said: “Unfortunately, some [pharmacies] these fall short of the standards we expect and unfortunately the services provided by Jhoots fall well short of the target.”
The administration application also follows a series of unsatisfactory district court judgments (CCJs) against the company. A CCJ is issued when someone files a lawsuit against a person or company, saying they owe money to them. and the alleged debtor did not respond.
Pharmacies using the Jhoots brand are either owned by Sarbjit or his brother Manjit Jhooty.
Manjit Jhooty, who owns more than 20 Jhoots branches through his companies Pasab and Jhoots Healthcare, said their branch is separate from his brother’s and “remains fully functional and continues to provide services to the communities they serve.” in December it rebranded his business As the JHL Pharmacy and Lloyds application does not apply to his operation.
In November, Allied Pharmacies took over the operation of 60 Jhoots stores.
Sarbjit Jhooty-owned Jhoots Chemist, which is the subject of a Lloyds Bank high court application, reported debts of more than £5 million and a loss of almost £1.9 million in its most recent financial year to the end of December 2024, according to documents filed at Companies House.
The company owed banks £1.7 million through loans and overdrafts, and records showed Lloyds had lodged 16 unsatisfied charges against it.
The latest accounts, signed in March, noted: “The directors have not identified any material uncertainty relating to events or circumstances that could cast serious doubt on the company’s ability to continue operating.”
Sarbjit Jhooty did not respond to efforts to contact him for comment.
