 Trading will remain "challenging", Boots said |
High Street retailer Boots, soon to be merging with Alliance Unichem, has reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales growth. The pharmacy chain said sales in the final quarter were up 3.3% percent with like-for-like growth of 2.2%.
In the previous quarter, like-for-like sales had dropped by 0.7% and were down 0.2% for the whole year.
But Boots warned the retail environment remained tough and said it planned to cut about 8% off 1,000 prices.
Behind the revival in sales growth was "increased focus" and investment in the "Building a Better Boots" campaign.
It also reported an encouraging performance in its health and beauty businesses.
"In what has been a tough trading environment we have performed solidly in our fourth quarter," said chief executive Richard Baker.
"We believe that the consumer environment is set to remain challenging and that there will be continuing inflationary pressure on retail costs."
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