Gross sales at Boots are heading again to pre-pandemic ranges as its American proprietor seeks a purchaser for the British chain.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, which has put the UK enterprise up on the market, stated revenues on the Boots pharmacy department have been 8.8 per cent larger within the three months to November than in the identical interval a yr earlier.
And within the retail arm, gross sales have been up 16.4 per cent.
Boots-owner Walgreens Boots Alliance stated revenues have been 8.8% larger within the three months to November than in the identical interval a yr earlier
Though fewer folks have been coming into shops than earlier than Covid struck, they usually spent 12 per cent greater than they did pre-pandemic, and on-line gross sales have been booming.
The restoration means gross sales at Boots have been near pre-pandemic ranges over the three-month interval.
Boots added that its efficiency over Christmas was ‘good’ thanks partially to a spike in gross sales of fragrance and wonder merchandise from manufacturers corresponding to Chanel, Nars and The Unusual.
The gross sales rebound may make Boots extra enticing to potential suitors as hypothesis of a non-public fairness bidding battle mounts.
The corporate, based by John Boot in 1859 in Nottingham, is believed to command a price ticket of as much as £7billion.
Sebastian James, managing director of Boots, stated the virus was persevering with ‘to create headwinds for the UK Excessive Avenue’.
However he added: ‘Our transformation continues as deliberate with funding, significantly in digital, our magnificence portfolio and healthcare companies, aiding a fast-paced restoration from the pandemic.’
The general Walgreens Boots group, which relies in Illinois, raked in gross sales of £25billion within the three months to November – up 7.6 per cent on the identical interval the earlier yr.