Boots owner sees profits nosedive ahead of ‘significant restructuring’

The US owner of Nottingham-based Boots, Walgreen Boots Alliance, has taken a hit to its profits after lamenting on ‘very weak’ UK market conditions, amid talk of a wholesale restructuring process and “significant restructuring”.

Boots’ UK sales were down 3.5% for the three months to the end of November, while gross profits were down 7.8%

Overall, profits were down 4.1% to £1.3bn.

In a statement, the company said: “We are reaffirming our fiscal 2019 guidance and announcing the launch of a new transformational cost management program, which is targeting annual cost savings of more than $1 billion by the end of the third year, to better position ourselves to meet our long term targets.”