Boots’ pandemic suffering was laid bare yesterday as figures showed a second year of heavy losses.
The UK’s biggest chemist racked up a £111m loss in the year to last August, on top of a £245m loss the year before.
Suffering: Boots racked up a £111m loss in the year to last August, on top of a £245m loss the year before
Sales fell 2.3 per cent to £5.8billion as Covid restrictions bit. The figures were a sixth straight year of declining sales ahead of its US owner Walgreens putting it up for sale.
Walgreens sought to offload the business to focus on US healthcare. But the sale was scrapped in June as the downturn in markets turned buyers away.
And as Boots played a crucial part in the roll-out of the UK’s testing and vaccination effort, pharmacy sales jumped 5.2 per cent.
Walgreens has said Boots is roaring back from the pandemic, and that the chain was ‘good enough’ to hold on to, as sales in the three months to May 31 were 13.5 per cent higher than a year earlier.
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