Retail recovery helps Boots offset slump in pharmacy sales

Boots has revealed a further boost from high street and travel stores helped to offset declines in the firm’s pharmacy business.

It came as impairment charges for the UK operation helped drag its US parent firm Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) to a significant loss in the fourth quarter of its financial year.

WBA told investors on Thursday that it suffered loss per share of 48 cents for the three months to August, slipping from a profit a year earlier.

The group said it came after the Boots business was hit by a 783 million dollar (£695.5 million) non-cash impairment.

It came as WBA reported that it saw like-for-like sales tumble 5.3% to 32.4 billion dollars (£32.8 billion) over the quarter, driven by declines at its US pharmacy operation.

In the UK, Boots revealed that retail sales grew by 15.2% over the three months to August, with trade recovering beyond pre-pandemic levels.

The retailer benefited from returning customers at city centres, airports and train stations.

Boots added that it witnessed surging sales of sunscreen amid the summer heatwave while the business also benefited from new beauty brand releases.

However, Boots pharmacy sales declined by 6.9% over the same quarter last year as it struggled to keep up with a Covid-buoyed performance.

Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK & ROI, said: “This is a really encouraging set of results.

“I am especially happy to see more and more customers choosing Boots over others and our market share rising as a result.

“In addition, I am pleased with the progress we are making in quickly introducing new, trending beauty brands, our healthcare services supporting the NHS and, of course, with our boots.com offer, which is now double its pre-pandemic levels.”