Boots revenue soars says owner as WBA reports overall lower Q3 sales

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 1, 2022

After Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) pulled the UK-based Boots chain from sale earlier this week, all eyes were on how the chain performed when WBA released its Q3 results on Thursday.

And it did well, with Boots UK retail comparable sales growing 24% as it made market share gains across all major categories.

But the wider company results weren’t so good. WBA said it saw “strong execution across segments” and that the figures were in line with expectations. But Q3 earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations fell 73.8% to $0.33.

And quarterly sales from continuing operations fell 4.2% year-on-year (or -2.8% currency-neutral) to $32.6 billion. Operating income from continuing operations fell to a loss of $320 million, compared to of $1.1 billion a year ago.

CEO Rosalind Brewer said the results came against “very robust growth last year”.

The company, which is a major player in health as well as beauty, said US retail comparable sales growth was 1.4% and US digital sales rose 25% after a 95% leap a year earlier, driven by 2.8 million same-day pick-up orders.

But overall US sales fell 7.1% to $26.7 billion, driven by a decline in the AllianceRx Walgreens business.

As mentioned, Boots UK saw comp sales surging 24%, a figure that was driven by beauty, and the firm continued to develop its beauty offer, launching No7 Pro Derm Scan technology and personalised consultation service in over 400 Boots stores in April.

That helped international Q3 sales to rise 0.3% to $5.3 billion, dented by an adverse currency impact of 9%. Total Boots UK sales rose 13.5%, and the German wholesale business grew 6.8%.