Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Boots' parent company, has today (October 15) announced a “footprint optimisation program targeting approximately 1,200 closures over the next three years” in its 2024 earnings report.
A WBA spokesperson confirmed to C+D that the fresh wave of closures relates to Walgreens US locations.
WBA said that the closures “will be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow”.
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It added that the “future expected store closures…includes approximately 300 stores previously approved under the transformational cost management program (TCMP)”.
The multinational’s June filing with the US securities and exchange commission (SEC) revealed “plans to reduce its presence by up to 650 Boots stores” as part of this “TCMP”.
And in June last year, Boots announced that it would close “300 pharmacies across the country over the next year”.
Pharmacy sales up
The report also revealed that Boots UK “comparable” pharmacy sales grew 10% “compared with the year-ago quarter”.
“Comparable retail sales increased 6.2% compared to the year-ago quarter, with growth across all categories,” it added.
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“Boots.com continued to perform strongly with sales growing 19%, representing 15% of Boots total retail sales,” WBA added.
The multinational reported operating loss of$14.1 billion in 2024, up “104.5% compared to the year-ago period” when it was $6.9bn.
Boots latest
At the start of the month, Boots and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) agreed a 4% pay raise for eligible pharmacists working at the UK’s largest multiple under 2024 pay talks effective from November 1.
Meanwhile last week, C+D revealed that “hundreds” of Boots Pharmacists' Association (BPA) members will be balloted on plans to merge the union with the PDA.
Read more: Boots parent company pays $107m settlement over prescription ‘fraud’
And last month, the US department of justice announced that WBA and Boots’ sister company Walgreens will jointly pay a $106.8 million (roughly £80.9m) settlement for submitting “false claims” to government healthcare programmes for prescriptions that were not dispensed.
The huge settlement will “resolve” allegations brought by the US government that Walgreens “submitted false claims” for payment between 2009 and 2020, the government said at the time.
