Boots plans 300 UK store closures

UK pharmacy chain boots Boots is closing 300 of its stores across the country over the next year, the company said on Wednesday.

The move, which will involve stores in close proximity to other sites, will see Boots' store estate cut to 1,900 from 2,200. It added that there were no proposed redundancies despite the plan, with plans to redeploy affected workers.

“Evolving the store estate in this way allows Boots to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up-to-date environment," a spokesperson said.

The company's US owner, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) on Tuesday revealed its net quarterly profit more than halved as demand for Covid vaccines and testing declined.

Retail sales across Boots jumped by 13.4% in the three months to the end of May, compared to the same period last year, driven by a boost in online shoppers with sales on its digital platform surging by a quarter over the latest period.

It comes as WBA last year pulled its plans to sell the UK retailer, after receiving a number of takeover approaches including one valuing it at about £5bn.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com