Health and beauty retailer Boots reported a slump in annual profits today as it struggled to find the right balance between profit margins and sales in its core business.
The company said its year profits before exceptionals fell 13 per cent to £555.4 million sterling, in line with forecasts after providing guidance to analysts in March. Group turnover slipped 0.1 per cent to £5.327 billion.
Following years of pedestrian growth, the company, which makes Nurofen painkillers and No 7 cosmetics, recently made a big push to improve sales, but the price cuts needed to provide the boost offset the rewards.
The group also took an £152.6 million one-off charge on the disposal of its Halfords car- and cycle-accessory chain and the closure of its unsuccessful experiments in health and beauty services.
A final dividend of 20.2p a share will raise the total 4.4 per cent to 28.6p.
A new chief executive is due to arrive in September to help revitalise the company's core chemist chain. That has been struggling to head off competition from supermarkets such as Wal-Mart's ASDA and faces the prospect of the pharmacy licence deregulation.