About us
Introducing
Friendly Phramacy
Friendly Pharmacy is the trading name of Combined Dispensaries Friendly Society Ltd. The Company has its roots dating back over one hundred years, with the first iteration of the Company founded in 1910.
Friendly Pharmacy is governed by a constitution with a simple objective:
“to provide health and welfare benefits, services, facilities, and products for Members, including but not limited to hospital, medical, dental, pharmaceutical, nursing, optical, physiotherapy and speech therapy benefits, services and facilities…”
Currently Friendly Pharmacy meets this objective by owning and operating pharmacies for its members, with scope to expand the services and products provided to them.
As a mutual organisation the Company is owned by its members rather than by shareholders seeking a return on their investment. The major difference between a mutual organisation and a typical publicly owned company is how profits generated from the organisation are managed. Mutuals invest any profits back into the company for the benefit of its members, customers and the community. In contrast, publicly traded non-mutuals distribute profits to shareholders.
Mutuals focus entirely providing benefits to their members. As owners of the Company, members are able to have a say in how the organisation is run.
Members of CDFS are entitled to attend and vote on business matters at our Annual General Meeting, usually held in October each year. Members can nominate to receive the Annual Report when they join as a member, or by calling the Support Office.