Boots posts drop in UK quarterly sales amid tough trading conditions
The parent owner of Boots, Britain’s largest chain of chemists, has posted a drop in UK quarterly sales amid challenging high street conditions.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) posted a 1.6 per cent drop in sales during the three months to the end of May, spurred on by a one per cent decline in its troubled UK market.
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In the UK, comparative retail sales tumbled 2.6 per cent with Boots “broadly gaining retail market share amid weakness in certain categories”, while comparative pharmacy sales rose 0.8 per cent.
Gross profit fell 8.5 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.
On a constant currency basis, adjusted gross profit decreased 1.6 per cent, with the firm citing lower pharmacy margin and retail sales in its UK arm.
The results come a day after Boots kicked off its business overhaul by unveiling its revamped Covent Garden store, which includes a beauty hall and water refill areas.
Earlier this year fears spread of UK boots store closures after the WBA announced it was undertaking a review of its Boots estate, with the business “focusing on low-performing stores and opportunities for consolidation”
According to Sky News, the group is looking at over 200 Boots outlets across the UK in the next two years.
Read more: Boots mulls more than 22 possible closures
Sales in the business as a whole rose 0.7 per cent to $34.6bn, while operating income plummeted 24.7 per cent to $1.2bn.
Chief executive Stefano Pessina said: “Following a difficult second quarter, we made progress in the third quarter against the strategic goals we set, and are pleased to report an improvement in our US comparable growth compared with the first half of the year.”
He added: “We will continue our aggressive response to rapidly shifting trends, and have already seen improved U.S. retail sales and prescription growth and are making good progress in implementing our Transformational Cost Management Program.”