The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is up 0.3% after the company revealed it had appointed a new director with significant healthcare and services experience. This movement comes with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) currently down 0.04%.
Wesfarmers may be best known for its Bunnings, Kmart, and Officeworks retailers, but it also has a growing healthcare division that it wants to expand further.
Some of the businesses inside its healthcare segment include Priceline, the Soul Pattinson Chemist brand, Clear Skincare, SILK Group (which operates laser clinics) and InstantScripts (a digital service to access prescriptions and doctors).
Wesfarmers appoints new director
The company has appointed Kate Munnings to the Wesfarmers board. Munnings has worked across a range of roles, professions, and industries. She started her career as a registered nurse before studying law, practising as a lawyer, and holding senior executive and board positions in healthcare organisations.
Between 2020 and 2023, she was the managing director and CEO of Virtus Health, an ASX-listed assisted reproductive services business that was taken private in 2022. Between 2016 and 2020, Munnings was the chief operating officer of Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX: RHC).
Munnings worked at Transfield Services for ten years, from 2006 to 2016, where she finished as the chief executive of operations. She also served as chief risk and legal officer and company secretary.
She's currently the non-executive director of Ryman Healthcare. Munnings is also the chair of the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, as well as the CEO of Vitrafy Life Sciences Ltd.
Leadership comments
The Wesfarmers chair, Michael Chaney, said:
Kate brings a unique blend of experience that will complement the capabilities on our Board and aligns with our focus on delivering shareholder value over the long term. Her background in healthcare will be particularly valuable as Wesfarmers continues to develop its health division.
The new director, Kate Munnings, said:
I look forward to joining Wesfarmers and contributing the insights I have gained from my diverse experiences, particularly most recently within the health sector.
Munnings will stand for election at the Wesfarmers annual general meeting, which is scheduled to be held on 31 October 2024.
What's the attraction of healthcare?
Wesfarmers noted in its recent 2024 strategy briefing day presentation that the company operates in "large addressable markets with strong growth trends."
The business said there is a "growing demand for health products and services and increasing role of community pharmacists in primary care." Wesfarmers also pointed to an "increasing spend on beauty and wellbeing products and services". The company then noted, "increasing adoption of digital delivery models and growing expectations for more personalised and integrated experiences."
In total, Wesfarmers thinks there is an addressable market of around $60 billion, with "opportunities in logical adjacencies". The breakdown of the total addressable market is: a $26 billion addressable market for health, beauty and retail, $23 billion for pharmacy wholesale, $6 billion for medi-aesthetics and $4 billion for digital health.
Time will tell how effective Wesfarmers is at growing in those areas.
Wesfarmers share price snapshot
The chart below shows that the Wesfarmers share price has risen by around 20% since the start of 2024.
