DocMorris AG (SIX: DOCM) raised every element of its 2026 guidance on 19 August 2026 after a first half in which external revenue reached CHF 627.8 million and the loss at the adjusted EBITDA line narrowed by CHF 17.9 million. The Frauenfeld-based online pharmacy and telemedicine group, whose shares carry ISIN CH0042615283, delivers mainly from its automated logistics centre in Heerlen in the Netherlands and takes the large majority of its revenue in Germany.

The half-year figures

External revenue rose from CHF 572.1 million to CHF 627.8 million, an increase of 9.8 per cent as reported and 12.5 per cent in local currency. Revenue rose from CHF 541.5 million to CHF 599.2 million, up 10.7 per cent as reported and 13.4 per cent in local currency. Germany produced external revenue of CHF 593.9 million against CHF 538.6 million, and the European business outside Germany produced CHF 33.9 million against CHF 33.5 million, a local-currency increase of 3.9 per cent.

Within Germany the two halves of the business moved at very different speeds. Prescription external revenue rose from CHF 109.7 million to CHF 147.9 million, up 34.9 per cent as reported and 38.3 per cent in local currency, with second-quarter growth of 45.8 per cent. Non-prescription external revenue rose from CHF 428.9 million to CHF 446.0 million, up 4.0 per cent as reported and 6.6 per cent in local currency, with over-the-counter revenue up 4.0 per cent.

Adjusted EBITDA improved to minus CHF 10.9 million from minus CHF 28.8 million, moving from minus 5.3 per cent of net revenue to minus 1.8 per cent. Within the half it improved sequentially from minus CHF 6.3 million in the first quarter to minus CHF 4.6 million in the second, a change of CHF 1.7 million.

Reported EBITDA of minus CHF 20.0 million, against minus CHF 27.1 million, carries one-off extraordinary costs of CHF 7.6 million tied to the AI-First strategy announced on 25 June 2026 and to the closure of the Ludwigshafen site, which was announced and executed in the first quarter of 2026. EBIT was minus CHF 40.9 million against minus CHF 50.0 million and the net loss narrowed to CHF 53.1 million from CHF 61.6 million. Gross margin was 22.1 per cent of net revenue against 22.3 per cent. Active customers reached 12.9 million from 11.8 million. Equity fell to CHF 357.9 million, or 46.1 per cent of the balance sheet, from CHF 409.1 million and 49.6 per cent at the end of 2025.

Digital Services, which covers TeleClinic, Retail Media and Marketplace, grew revenue 71.4 per cent in the half and 80.0 per cent in the second quarter, and doubled its EBITDA. TeleClinic revenue rose 48 per cent year on year and treatments rose 51 per cent. The number of active prescription customers rose 7.1 per cent from the first quarter to the second and 15.6 per cent year on year.

Guidance

DocMorris now expects external revenue growth of 9 to 13 per cent for 2026, against a previous range described as mid-single-digit to low teens. Adjusted EBITDA is guided to between minus CHF 10 million and minus CHF 17.5 million, where the previous floor was minus CHF 25 million. Capital expenditure is guided below CHF 30 million rather than around CHF 30 million. Prescription growth guidance moves to around 40 per cent from around 20 per cent, and Digital Services to more than 50 per cent from a mid-double-digit percentage range. Management confirmed the target of EBITDA breakeven in the second half of 2026 and free cash flow breakeven during 2027.

Chief financial officer Daniel Wüest said the drivers were “a further improvement in marketing efficiency in the Rx business and increased profit contributions from Digital Services”.

Analysis: the narrowing loss is a marketing-cost story, not a margin story

Gross margin declined, from 22.3 per cent of net revenue to 22.1 per cent, while adjusted EBITDA improved by CHF 17.9 million. The improvement therefore did not come from selling at better prices. The company says it came from lower customer acquisition costs, and the customer figures are consistent with that: active prescription customers rose 15.6 per cent year on year and 7.1 per cent quarter on quarter, and DocMorris attributes the revenue acceleration to loyalty and repeat order rates rather than to new-customer volume alone. A cohort that reorders is cheaper to serve than one that has to be bought.

German law explains why this is the only lever available in prescription. Under section 129 paragraph 3 of the German Social Code Book V, pharmacies dispensing prescribed medicines to insured persons as benefits in kind are bound, where the framework contract applies to them, to the price margins and prices set in the ordinance issued under section 78 of the Medicines Act, and may not grant benefits to those insured persons. A mail-order pharmacy cannot discount a reimbursed prescription. Its economics reduce to acquisition cost, repeat rate and fulfilment cost. That is precisely the set of variables DocMorris reported moving.

The two revenue engines are also very different in size. Prescription external revenue in Germany of CHF 147.9 million grew 38.3 per cent in local currency; non-prescription external revenue of CHF 446.0 million grew 6.6 per cent. The faster line is roughly a third the size of the slower one, which is why group external revenue grew 12.5 per cent rather than anything close to the prescription rate. Guidance of around 40 per cent prescription growth for the full year, applied to the smaller base, is consistent with group guidance of 9 to 13 per cent.

Set against 2025, the trajectory is clear but incomplete. Full-year 2025 external revenue was CHF 1,185.7 million after CHF 1,085.0 million in 2024 and CHF 1,037.5 million in 2023, with adjusted EBITDA of minus CHF 48.2 million in 2025 and minus CHF 48.6 million in 2024. A first-half adjusted EBITDA of minus CHF 10.9 million and full-year guidance no worse than minus CHF 17.5 million would be a marked step from that base, but it is still a loss, and the breakeven claim applies to the second half rather than to the year.

The balance sheet is the line that did not improve. Equity fell to CHF 357.9 million from CHF 409.1 million at the end of 2025, and its share of total assets fell to 46.1 per cent from 49.6 per cent, while the group was still loss-making at the net line. The 2025 annual report records CHF 250 million raised to fund growth and refinance the 2026 convertible bond, so the funding question has been addressed, but a company guiding to free cash flow breakeven only during 2027 is still consuming equity in the meantime.

What the release does not establish is the durability of the prescription acceleration. Electronic prescribing is now the standard route in Germany for prescription medicines, redeemable with the electronic health card, by smartphone or by printout, with narcotics and statutory special cases excluded. That shift removes friction for every mail-order pharmacy, not only this one. The half-year statement gives DocMorris growth rates but no market share figure, and the annual report sizes the German prescription market at 62 billion euros. A reader would want the September and full-year disclosures to show whether the repeat order rate holds once the initial cohort effect passes.

The statement was released as an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 of the SIX listing rules at 07:00 CET, ahead of trading, which the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity in force since 1 December 2025 permits without the 90-minute advance notice required for publication during trading hours.