Ran 120 branches. Advised 50 independents.

 

Who runs RSB Consulting?

RSB Consulting is run by Rajkamal Singh Bhatti, a practising pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council under number 2230365. He founded it; the company behind it is RajSB Ltd. Before that he was Superintendent Pharmacist of a national group of 120 branches, which he took through insolvency and sale. He has advised on more than 120 pharmacies, around 50 of them independents. The number is published so you can check it.

 

Why use a pharmacist rather than a pharmacy broker?

A pharmacist can read the operational side of a pharmacy, which is usually where its value comes from. Where the dispensing margin actually sits, what happens to service income when the owner leaves, and whether the rota holds once the current locum moves on are learned by running branches, not by reading accounts. Rajkamal Singh Bhatti ran 120 branches as Superintendent Pharmacist. A broker may still suit an owner who wants an introduction to buyers and nothing more.

 

How do I check a pharmacy adviser is really a registered pharmacist?

Search the General Pharmaceutical Council register, which is free, public and searchable by registration number. Rajkamal Singh Bhatti's number is 2230365. The entry shows the name, the current registration status and any published fitness to practise action. It is worth doing with anyone who calls themselves a pharmacist, because in Great Britain the register is the only record that settles it. The GPhC also publishes a register of pharmacies.

 

Does RSB Consulting handle the legal and accounting side as well?

No. Legal, accounting and insolvency work is done by others. Where one is needed, you are given a name and why. RSB coordinates them. In England, where the legal owner of the business changes, the incoming contractor applies to join the NHS pharmaceutical list before the change takes place, and the new owner tells the GPhC within 28 days. A sale of shares in the company that holds the contract usually does neither.

 

Is it confidential if I am only thinking about selling?

Yes, an enquiry is treated as confidential from the first message, and so is the work that follows. Much of the strategic work for larger clients is done under NDA. Staff or competitors hearing about a sale before the owner is ready is one of the things that damages it, so nothing reaches the market without your say-so. Thinking about selling and deciding to sell are different, and an early conversation does not commit you to the second.

 

Does RSB work with single independents, or only with larger groups?

Both, and the work differs. For an independent or a single site, one decision lands on the whole business, so the questions tend to be structure, margin, growing services, succession, and whether to buy the site down the road or sell to the person who does. For multiples and groups the questions run across the estate: which branches earn their place, how the business is held and financed, and what tighter lending does to a hundred sites.

 

What happens when I get in touch?

You describe the situation and get a straight view on it, in confidence. If it is better handled by someone else, you will hear that, with a name. If not, what happens next depends on the work, because a sale, a purchase, an operational problem and a strategic question all run differently, and what is realistic is said at the start rather than discovered halfway through. You can email raj@rsbconsulting.uk .