Boots Retail Ireland has confirmed that the 39 stores in Ireland continue to be the best performing territory in the company with sales growth well ahead of the Irish market generally. Dispensing, healthcare, cosmetics and fragrance represented the highest growth categories, a statement from the company said.
The company's focus is on the health and beauty markets, and growth within these sectors, said Deirdre Burns, director of Boots Retail Ireland. 'The trading conditions in Ireland are currently a lot more positive than the retail environment in the UK,' she said.
Boots first opened a store in Dublin's Jervis Street shopping centre in 1996 and there are now 39 stores nationwide. The company plans to open at least another five within the next year, with the promise of 300 new jobs. It currently employs 1,200 people across the country.
The Boots Group said today that sales continued to slide in the first half of the year and it said it saw no sign of improvement in the retail environment.
Like-for-like sales at the core Boots The Chemist (BTC) chain fell 1.6% in the second quarter, bringing the same-store decline in the first half to 1.3%.
'Trading conditions have been difficult throughout the first half with consumer spending softening further over the past quarter, and we see no sign that the market will get any easier for the rest of the year,' CEO Richard Baker said in the trading statement.
The Health product area showed a 0.6% total sales increase in the first half as dispensing of prescription medicines remained strong, although price regulation on some medicines cut overall BTC sales by 1%, the company said.
Beauty and Toiletries sales were up 3.3%, reaping the benefits of product relaunches and the investment in new 'Beauty Halls,' but Lifestyle - including food, photography and electrical - showed an accelerating 3.3% sales decline.
Although sales were running at a rate below that planned for the full year, the company said it had made good progress towards its targets on profit margins, operating costs and new store openings, with the bulk of costs of new stores and tweaks to the supply chain falling in the first half.
Boots, which is in the process of selling its Boots Healthcare International (BHI) over-the-counter medicine manufacturing division for a sum expected to exceed £1.2 billion sterling, said BHI comparable sales improved by 7.6% in the first half.
The retailer, which announced the divestment of the maker of Strepsils, Nurofen and Clearasil in April, said the sale process was proceeding according to plan. In the past it has flagged a completion of the deal by the end of the financial year.
Europe's biggest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline is viewed as a frontrunner to acquire the unit, while the other British name in the frame is household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser. But the auction has also attracted keen interest from overseas players, including German drugs and chemicals group Bayer.
