Boots parent firm’s sales rise
FALL IN UK BEAUTY BUSINESS IS OFFSET BY GROWTH IN HEALTH AND WELLNESS
THE parent company of Nottinghamshire’s largest private company has reported an 11.3 percent increase in sales to $131.5 billion (US) in its annual financial results.
Reporting in the American financial year, which ended on Friday, August 31, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) also saw its net earnings rise year-on-year by 23.2 percent, to $5 billion.
American firm Walgreens merged with Beeston-based Boots in 2014 to form the Alliance, which is why the results are reported in US dollars.
Executive vice chairman and CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Stefano Pessina, is pleased with the results, which included an increase in returns to shareholders of $6.8 billion.
Mr Pessina added: “We are making progress on our partnership strategy both in the US and interna- tionally, including our most recent announcements with Labcorp, Kroger and Alibaba, which will provide additional opportunities for future growth.”
WBA saw fourth quarter retail and pharmacy sales rise by 14.4 percent in the US, compared to last year’s final quarter. However, internationally there was a decrease of 1.9 percent, to $2.9 billion.
A company spokesman said the fall is primarily due to lower prescription volume and a fall in UK pharmacy funding. The decrease in retail sales (0.9 percent) was mainly due to Boots UK, the company said, as it pointed to a “challenging market” in the beauty sector.
This fall has been offset by higher sales in the health and wellness category, however.
There has also been an increase in retail sales and good growth in the Republic of Ireland and Thailand in the fourth quarter.
Discussing the results with investors, James Kehoe, Global Chief Financial Officer, added: “Boots UK comp retail sales were down 1.4 percent in the quarter in a difficult retail market.
“While our beauty business declined in the challenging category, we drove continued growth in our health and wellness and personal care businesses.
“We are taking actions to address our UK retail performance, and we’ll be investing in new store and digital content. More to follow on this in future quarters.”
The financial report has been issued as the Alliance continued to grow its customer base.
Last month, Boots announced last month its products would be going on sale to China through online marketplace Alibaba - a market of half a billion customers. Boots’s UK registered office is its headquarters in Beeston, where, according to latest estimates, 8,000 employees are based.
The company retained its number one position in this year’s list of Top 200 companies in Nottinghamshire, based on turnover.