A struggling national pharmacy chain accused of owing its locums £670,000 in unpaid fees has been hit with an application to place the business into insolvency proceedings.
Jhoots Chemist, which trades under the name of Jhoots Pharmacy, was named in a high court application to appoint an administrator, submitted on Monday by Lloyds Bank.
The move comes after the company – which has run more than 100 outlets – was criticised in the autumn by MPs for not paying locum pharmacists who had worked at the company’s branches on a freelance basis. The chain is run from Walsall in the West Midlands by a businessman called Sarbjit Singh Jhooty.
In an urgent parliamentary debate about the status of the group in October, MPs raised concerns about the behaviour of Jhoots pharmacies including over its failure to open branches, management of controlled drugs, and not paying staff, landlords and other suppliers.
During the session, the pharmacy minister, Stephen Kinnock, said: “Unfortunately there are some [pharmacies] that fall short of the standards that we expect and sadly the services provided by Jhoots are falling well below the mark.”
The administration application also follows what appears to be a series of unsatisfied county court judgments (CCJs) issued against the company. A CCJ is issued when someone takes court action against an individual or a company saying they owe them money, and the alleged debtor has not responded.
Pharmacies that have used the Jhoots branding have been owned by either Sarbjit or his brother Manjit Jhooty.
Manjit Jhooty, who owns more than 20 Jhoots branches through his companies Pasab and Jhoots Healthcare, has said his branches were separate from his brother’s and remained “fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve”. In December he rebranded his business as JHL Pharmacy and the Lloyds application does not apply to his operation.
In November, Allied Pharmacies took over the running of 60 Jhoots stores.
Jhoots Chemist, the business owned by Sarbjit Jhooty that is the subject of the Lloyds Bank high court application, reported creditors of more than £5m and a loss of almost £1.9m in its most recent financial year to the end of December 2024, according to documents filed at Companies House.
The company owed £1.7m to the banks via loans and overdrafts, with filings showing Lloyds holds 16 unsatisfied charges against it.
The most recent accounts, signed off in March, included a note that read: “The directors have not identified any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
Sarbjit Jhooty did not respond to efforts to contact him for comment.
