Sales at Boots are on the up, growing 4.3 percent during the Nottingham-headquartered business’s first quarter.
Though Boots’ pharmacy sales decreased 0.9 percent compared with the year-ago quarter, due to lower demand for COVID-19 services, retail sales increased 8.7 percent, growing market share for the 7th consecutive quarter.
Footfall, meanwhile, improved by around 8 percent, compared to the year-ago quarter.
Boots.com continued to perform well, accounting for 18 percent of retail sales in the quarter compared to 9 percent pre-pandemic. In November, Boots.com percent of sales reached almost 23 percent, including the biggest ever single day of digital sales for the business, on Black Friday.
Chief Executive Officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Rosalind Brewer said: “WBA delivered a solid start to the fiscal year, as we continue to accelerate our transformation to a consumer-centric healthcare company. We’re making significant progress in driving our U.S. Healthcare segment to scale and profit, including the recent VillageMD acquisition of Summit Health. Our core retail pharmacy businesses in both the United States and United Kingdom remain resilient in challenging operating environments. Execution across segments reinforces our confidence in achieving full-year guidance, and our strategic actions are creating long-term shareholder value.”
