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Approval of New Dispensing Facility

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MedPal AI plc has opened its new, NHS-approved robotic dispensing facility in Runcorn, named Sarus Court, which is its largest to date at 23,000 sq ft. This facility, representing over £1 million in investment in robotics and automation, is designed to process over 10,000 prescription orders daily once fully operational, significantly exceeding the current monthly item levels of major competitors like Well.co.uk and Boots. Sarus Court will operate alongside the company's Swaffham facility and is expected to become one of the UK's most sophisticated and lowest-cost pharmacy dispensing platforms, supporting MedPal AI's growth in various pharmacy services.

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Opening of Sarus Court - the Group's largest robotic dispensing facility to date

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NHS approval received for new 23,000 sq. ft location; designed capacity of over 10,000 prescription orders per day.

MedPal AI plc, the AI-powered integrated digital health and pharmacy group, is pleased to announce the opening of its new robotic pharmacy dispensing and distribution facility at Sarus Court, Runcorn ("Sarus Court") together with receipt of NHS approval for the new location.

Sarus Court will be the Company's largest pharmacy robotic distribution facility to date and is expected to provide approximately 23,000 sq ft of operational capacity when fully completed. It will replace the existing pharmacy distribution facility in Runcorn, as set out in the Company's announcement of 29 April 2026, and operate in addition to the Company's facility in Swaffham. The facility is being commissioned in phases and will, from this month, process more than 2,000 prescription items per day, with infrastructure designed to support throughput of over 10,000 prescription items per day once fully completed and operational.

The new facility benefits from over £1 million of investment in robotics, automation and MedPal AI's proprietary pharmacy technology stack. The Board of MedPal AI believes this investment, combined with Sarus Court's scale, workflow design and direct-to-patient operating model, positions the facility to become one of the most sophisticated and lowest-cost pharmacy dispensing platforms in the UK at scale.

At full designed capacity, Sarus Court would be capable of processing more than 300,000 prescription items per month. For comparison, the latest public PharmData leaderboard reviewed by the Company shows Well.co.uk at 142,011 items and Boots at 87,992 items for February 2026. Sarus Court's planned capacity would therefore be more than twice the Well.co.uk monthly item level and more than three times the Boots monthly item level shown on that leaderboard.

The scale of Sarus Court also compares favourably with other major investments in UK pharmacy automation. Boots announced in September 2025 the opening of its first Regional Dispensing Hub in Basingstoke, a 20,000 sq ft automated facility supporting 150 stores in the South of England. At 23,000 sq ft when fully completed, Sarus Court is expected to be larger by footprint.

Images of the robotic dispensing and packing facilities and the exterior of Sarus Court in Runcorn.

Jason Drummond, Chief Executive Officer of MedPal AI, commented:

"Sarus Court is a major statement of intent for MedPal AI. It is our largest robotic pharmacy distribution facility to date, NHS-approved for the new location, and designed to give us the operational headroom to scale from approximately 2,000 prescription items per day today to more than 10,000 items per day when fully completed.

"We have invested over £1 million in robotics, automation and our pharmacy technology stack to create a platform that we believe can become one of the most sophisticated and lowest-cost dispensing operations in the UK.

"The size and capacity of Sarus Court place MedPal AI firmly among the most ambitious technology-led pharmacy operators in the UK. At 23,000 sq ft when fully completed, the facility is larger by footprint than Boots' recently opened 20,000 sq ft Basingstoke dispensing hub, while its designed item capacity is significantly above the monthly item levels currently reported by leading individual Well and Boots pharmacy entries on PharmData.

"This facility gives MedPal AI the scale, automation and resilience required to support the next phase of our growth across NHS dispensing, private prescriptions, AI-enabled patient engagement and direct-to-patient pharmacy fulfilment."

The Directors of the Company are responsible for the contents of this announcement

Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.

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