Alliance Unichem

Zzzzzzzzzzz, uh, what was I doing?

Oh yes looking at Alliance Unichem (AUN.) Suddenly I feel sleepy again.

This was a company I know nothing about until today. Here are the basics:

AUN are a healthcare distributer and retailer.
P/E = 14
Yield = 2.7%
Market Cap. = £2.7 Billion
Growth = 12%
Broker opinion = neutral

This all looked pretty reasonable until I read that AUN is in the process of merging with Boots! Aaagh! Boots is having a difficult time dealing with the increased competition from the supermarkets. The retail environment is tough anyway and Boots seems to have a bit of an identity crises as their shops seem to sell a bit of everything.

Anyway this is supposed to be about AUN. But until the merger either completes or fails Boots will be all the shareholders talk about rather than a growing business with decent fundamentals. It seems like Boots need AUN much more than AUN need Boots.

With all the merger rubbish going on I will give this one a wide berth. I suspect I would have ignored it anyway as I am not sure retail is the place to be at the moment.