HEALTH and beauty chain Boots continued its recovery yesterday by unveiling a surprise pick-up in sales for the past three months.
Boots, which earlier this month announced a restructuring plan with the loss of more than 100 jobs in the North-East, bettered City expectations by announcing like-for-like sales growth of 2.2 per cent.
The quarterly update on trading came as Boots said it would carry out one of its largest ever programmes of price cuts, involving reductions on about 1,000 products in departments including health, beauty and food.
It is due to merge with Alliance UniChem later in the year.
The Nottingham-based company, which operates from 1,400 outlets in the UK, has faced a fierce battle with supermarkets in the health and pharmacy sector.
Two weeks ago, Boots announced it would shed up to 2,250 jobs over the next three years with the closure of 17 regional sites and the creation of a modern automated £70m warehouse in Nottingham.
Its site in Spennymoor, County Durham, is to close as part of the restructuring, with the loss of 110 jobs.
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