Redcare Pharmacy Faces Twin Headwinds: Executive Departure and Drogerie Rivalry

Redcare Pharmacy loses its chief commercial officer as Rossmann and dm expand OTC offerings, but prescription dominance and strong Q1 growth provide a buffer.

Redcare Pharmacy is navigating a turbulent stretch. The online pharmacy has lost its chief commercial officer with immediate effect, just as two of Germany’s largest drugstore chains intensify their assault on its over-the-counter business. The convergence of internal upheaval and external competition puts pressure on a stock that has already endured a brutal 12-month slide.

A Sudden Exit in the C-Suite

Dirk Brüse stepped down as sales and distribution chief on Tuesday, citing personal reasons. His departure removes a key architect of Redcare’s European expansion at a critical juncture. To prevent an operational vacuum, CEO Olaf Heinrich has assumed Brüse’s responsibilities — overseeing revenue growth, commercial partnerships, and marketing — on an interim basis. The search for a permanent successor is already underway.

The abrupt change compounds existing challenges. Redcare’s stock has been highly volatile, with annualized swings of nearly 80%. While the shares have rallied roughly 46% over the past 30 days, they closed Tuesday at €48.54 — still far below the 52-week high of €136.20. The Relative Strength Index stands at 19.3, signaling deeply oversold conditions.

Drogerie Giants Enter the OTC Arena

Meanwhile, the competitive landscape in non-prescription drugs is shifting. Rossmann has declared the build-out of its own online pharmacy a priority for this year. The platform will not offer prescription medicines, but it brings an app with roughly 11 million active users — a formidable distribution advantage in the OTC space.

dm is already operational. Since December 2025, its “dm-med” platform has been delivering around 2,500 non-prescription products to German customers from a logistics hub in Bor, Czech Republic. The twin threat from two of Germany’s biggest drugstore chains puts Redcare’s OTC segment under siege.

Prescription Dominance Provides a Buffer

Redcare’s real strength lies elsewhere. It commands a 67% market share in Germany’s online prescription-drug market, a segment neither Rossmann nor dm intends to enter. Management expects Rx revenue to exceed €670 million in 2026.

Preliminary first-quarter figures underscore that momentum. Group revenue rose 18.3% to €848 million, beating analyst estimates. The prescription business drove the outperformance, with sales up 35% overall and German Rx revenue surging 55% to €168 million. Even the OTC segment showed signs of life, with growth accelerating to 9.7% from 5.4% in the prior quarter.

The Margin Squeeze

That growth comes at a cost. A new logistics center in Pilsen, Czech Republic, will boost annual capacity by 15 million parcels but is weighing heavily on profitability. Management has already lowered its medium-term margin target from above 8% to more than 5%. For the full year 2026, Redcare is guiding for an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 2.5%.

Whether that target holds will become clearer on May 6, when the company releases its full first-quarter report — the first substantial set of numbers under a new supervisory board and a new CFO. The question is whether Redcare can sustain its margin floor as OTC competition intensifies and the executive bench undergoes a shake-up.

Analyst views remain polarized. Kepler Capital maintains a “Hold” rating with a €40 price target. Deutsche Bank sees fair value at €99, while Jefferies is at €150. Bankhaus-Metzler analyst Felix Dennl points to a potential structural tailwind: if planned increases in prescription co-payments materialize, price-sensitive patients may shift to cheaper online channels, further fueling Redcare’s Rx growth.

For now, Heinrich faces a dual challenge: stabilizing the leadership team while defending against a two-front competitive attack. The May 6 report will offer the first test of whether the numbers can match the narrative.