Boots Ireland sees 10% sales growth
Thursday, 18 May 2006Boots' Irish stores continue to perform ahead of targets and are among the best performing areas of the UK drugstore chain. Boots currently employs 1,200 people in its 40 Irish stores.
Irish total sales for the year to the end of March were up 10.4% compared with an overall group sales increase of 1.9%.
Earlier, the Boots Group reported a 10% drop in its year profit, but was bullish about its prospects, after a planned merger with Alliance Unichem this summer.
The 1,400 strong pharmacy chain reported group trading profit after finance costs of £401m sterling for the year to March 31, in line with market forecasts after detailed guidance from the company in March. That result is down 9.8% from £444m last year.
Boots is aiming for its merger with drug distributor Alliance Unichem to be effective on July 31.
'We had a very strong Christmas and the final quarter of the financial year saw like for like sales growth,' commented Rhys Iley, Director of Boots Ireland.
'The Irish stores performed particularly well in the healthcare, beauty and toiletries categories with sales of cosmetics and fragrances products up 17% for the year,' he said.
He added that increased sales of almost 12% were also achieved in the photo category.
The Irish boss also confirmed the company's intention to open at least 15 new stores here over the next few years.
