Boots warns of higher Budget costs amid sales surge
High street pharmacy giant Boots has warned it faces “heightened cost pressures” in 2025 following the Autumn Budget as it revealed strong sales towards the end of last year.
The new boss of the Nottingham-headquartered company, Anthony Hemmerdinger, added that while Boots has come under increased pressure, “the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth”.
The comments come as Boots revealed its total comparable retail sales rose 8.1 per cent year on year in first quarter of its financial year, the three months to 30 November, 2024.
The health and beauty retailer confirmed that it saw growth across all categories and channels, on top of a significant increase in the prior year.
Digital sales surged by 23 per cent year on year and accounted for 22 per cent of its total retail turnover.
Store sales also increased, but Boots did not confirm by how much.
While the period does not include the all important Christmas sales, Boots did reveal that its Black Friday sales rose by 20 per cent during that week.
Boots said that its Christmas sales performance will be reported on in its second quarter earnings later this year.
However, the company added that “early indications suggest a solid Christmas trading period”.
In beauty, the retailer’s sales grew by 11 per cent year on year, driven by fragrance, premium beauty and skincare.
In healthcare, comparable pharmacy sales were up 10.9 per cent, primarily driven by continued strong performance in services including flu, Covid-19 and travel vaccinations.
Boots ‘relentlessly focused on transformation journey’
Anthony Hemmerdinger, managing director, Boots UK and Ireland, said: “This is another strong set of financial results, with retail and pharmacy sales seeing significant uplift alongside market share gains and increased customer satisfaction scores.
“These figures demonstrate that our ongoing transformation – from improvements to the in-store and digital customer experience to a focus on offering the very best product and service range across all price points – is working.
“This kind of success requires collaborative working at pace, and I’d like to say a big thank you to all of our team members for their hard work over this important trading period.
“We are relentlessly focused on our transformation journey and have more exciting plans ahead to further enhance the experience for our customers.
“Looking forward, we face heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the Autumn Budget, however with positive momentum behind us and a clear plan in place, the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.”
In October 2024, Boots said a surge in sales online and for makeup helped increase its turnover during its latest financial year.