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The sale of the Boots Pension Scheme to Legal & General has helped the UK’s largest pharmacy chain swerve a loss-making year, its accounts for 2023-24 show.

Published on the Companies House website this morning (June 5), the accounts for the year to August 31, 2024 show Boots UK turned a £211m profit after tax – a 350 per cent increase on the £47m profit it made in the previous year. 

Operating profits rose by £186m to £247m, driven by a “one-off past service credit” of £219m relating to the sale of the £4.8bn pension scheme in November 2023, without which operating profits would have seen a £33m year-on-year slump to £55m. 

A £58m dividend arising from a corporate restructure also boosted the company’s coffers.

A number of costs ate into the company’s profits, including a £187m impairment relating to “the store impairment assessment” and a “one-off accelerated depreciation on IT software of £11m”. 

Total revenue rose by 3.7 per cent to £7.3bn, primarily driven by a 6.6 per cent rise in retail revenue as it climbed over £5bn “as a result of increased volumes particularly in beauty”.

Meanwhile, income from pharmacy services and prescriptions dipped by 2.2 per cent to £2.28bn – although for those stores that stayed open in the same location all year, new services like Pharmacy First led to a 4.9 per cent rise in pharmacy revenue. 

As of August 31, the company operated 1,840 stores, down from 2,177 at the same point in 2023. The 2023-24 filing makes reference to £6m in “restructuring costs” associated with changes to the Boots store portfolio.

Commenting on Boots’ ongoing store closure programme, company directors said: “The company takes an active approach to its store portfolio management to ensure the right stores are at the right locations to best serve its customers, continuing the reorganisation programme in year resulted in 334 store closures, taking the total programme to 624 store closures to date.

“The company has made this strategic decision in order to concentrate team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely across the store portfolio.”

The accounts make no direct reference to the recent $24bn sale of Boots parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance to private equity firm Sycamore Partners – a deal that some expect will see the UK chain sold or listed publicly as the new owners direct their attentions on the struggling Walgreens chain in the U.S.

Read more: PDA investigating concerns around Boots pharmacists’ pension entitlements