| The Boots Company | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Fate | Merged with Alliance Unichem |
| Successor | Alliance Boots |
| Founded | Alliance Boots 2006 Boots 1849 Alliance Unichem 1997 |
| Defunct | {{{defunct}}} |
| Location |  London |
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals Healthcare Beauty |
| Products | Boots Alliance Pharmacy No 7 - Makeup Soltan - Sun cream Almus - Generic Drugs |
| Key people | Stefano Pessina - Executive Chairman Alex Gorley - Chief Executive - John Boot - Boots Founder |
| Peak size | ~100,000 employees |
| Subsidiary | Boots The Chemists Alliance UniChem |
- This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result, information on this page may be out of date. This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page is likely to be out of date Alliance Boots Limited is a British based pharmaceuticals company operating as a high street retailer Pharmacist and pharmaceutical wholesaler This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page is likely to be out of date London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Health care is the prevention treatment and management of illness and the preservation of mental health through the services offered by the medical, Nursing NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator John Boot (1789 &ndash 1856 born in Radcliffe on Trent in Nottinghamshire, England, was the father of the founder of Boots the Chemists. This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page may be out of date This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page is likely to be out of date Alliance Boots Limited is a British based pharmaceuticals company operating as a high street retailer Pharmacist and pharmaceutical wholesaler
The Boots Company PLC known as Boots and financially branded Boots The Chemists, is the dominant pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country. Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον 'pharmakon' = drug is the Health profession that links the Health sciences with the chemical sciences The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located High Street, or the High Street, is a Metonym for the generic name (and frequently the official name of the primary Business street In recent years they have diversified their business from a traditional pharmacy to one offering one-hour photo-processing, opticians, and even home appliances in certain stores. Scientific Equipment OpticianAn optician is an Eye care professional who provides corrective lenses based on a prescription for the correction of a Refractive In the 21st century Boots has faced increased competition from the main UK supermarkets, and it has struggled to grow. Its main subsidiary is Boots The Chemists Limited.
Boots Group PLC changed its name to Alliance Boots plc on 31 July 2006, following the completion of its merger with Alliance UniChem Plc. Alliance Boots Limited is a British based pharmaceuticals company operating as a high street retailer Pharmacist and pharmaceutical wholesaler This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page is likely to be out of date The original Boots Group subsidiaries are once again under the umbrella holding company name of The Boots Company PLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance Boots. A subsidiary, in business matters is an entity that is controlled by a bigger and more powerful entity Separately, Alliance UniChem Plc, the holding company for the former Alliance UniChem original companies, also became a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance Boots.
Contents |
About Boots
Boots was founded in Nottingham, England by John Boot in 1849 and transformed into a national chain by his son Jesse. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland John Boot (1789 &ndash 1856 born in Radcliffe on Trent in Nottinghamshire, England, was the father of the founder of Boots the Chemists. Its current logo is based on a design made by one of Jesse's signwriters in the 1870s. The chain was established during that time, and for the first time they became official dispensing chemist, stocking prescription medicines. By the onset of the First World War there were over five hundred Boots shops. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company. Rexall was the name of a chain of North American drugstores, as well as the name of their store-branded products However, deteriorating economic circumstances in North America saw Boots sold back into British hands in 1933 with the son of the founder, John Boot who inherited the title Lord Trent from his father, at the head of the company ('Interwar retail internationalization: Boots under American ownership', International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 7(2), 1997). In 1968 it acquired the 622- strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain. Boots now has almost one thousand five hundred stores including some stores overseas. The Alliance Boots group in total has nearly 3,000 stores.
The company, consists of several subsidiary companies, such as Boots The Chemists Limited, which is the main retail chain. The parent company is now called Alliance Boots plc. A Public Limited Company ( PLC, plc or plc or p l c is a type of Limited company in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland which is The other main trading companies are Boots Opticians, and Boots Retail International. Originally with their own logos, all parts of the original Boots Company group now share the oval Boots logo. Alliance Boots plc has a separate logo, however. In 1982 the company opened a new manufacturing plant in Cramlington, Northumberland. The Town of Cramlington in the county of Northumberland is situated nine miles north of the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne in the north-east of Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west so then
Since the appointment of a new Chief Executive from ASDA, the company has been given a refocus, inevitably leading to more outsourcing (such as Boots's own warehouses at its Head Office base in Nottingham - now owned by Unipart) and job losses at Nottingham. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator Asda is a United Kingdom Supermarket chain which retails food clothing and general merchandise The Unipart Group is a 3rd Party Logistics provider whose clients include Vodafone, Jaguar Cars, London Taxis International, Landrover In a break from tradition, Boots is reported to be preparing to lease out a main office building (vacant due to the level of staff losses) on its own private 300-acre (1. 2 km²) estate in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Beeston is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is southwest of Nottingham City Centre
Merger with Alliance UniChem
On 1 October 2005, rumours began to spread that Boots and Alliance UniChem were planning to merge, although there had been no official announcement. Events 331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page is likely to be out of date
This was formally announced on 3 October by the Chairman of the Boots Group, Sir Nigel Rudd. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Sir Nigel Rudd (born 1946 in Derby, England) is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He said of the deal, "I believe that this merger does an awful lot for customers, for shareholders, and for indeed the employees".
The merger would create a chain of pharmacies with 17% of the UK market with Alliance Unichem bringing some 1,250 plus Retail outlets based in the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and Italy. Alliance UniChem's UK retail pharmacies are mainly "community pharmacies" located in small retail precincts in residential areas, whereas Boots shops are mostly on the main high streets of towns, cities and suburbs and in major shopping centres. The merger will also give Boots the major international presence which it has struggled to develop on its own.
The declining state of the retail industry in the UK has led to the merger and will help the company to face the competition given to it by supermarkets such as Tesco and ASDA that have entered the pharmaceutical market. Tesco plc is a British -based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain Asda is a United Kingdom Supermarket chain which retails food clothing and general merchandise
On Monday, 3 October 2005, the merger was confirmed, and the new group took on the name Alliance Boots PLC. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. After the merger it became Britain's dominant pharmaceutical retailer and wholesaler.
On 7 February 2006, the Office of Fair Trading decided not to refer the proposed acquisition by Boots Group PLC of Alliance UniChem Plc to the Competition Commission. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. This was due to the fact Boots agreed to sell 96 shops in local areas where there was a substantial lessening of competition. Boots will now operate 2,500 Chemist Stores across the United Kingdom.
The merger became effective on Monday 31 July 2006. Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
On the 25 April 2007, Alliance Boots was approached with a buy-out offer by New York City-based Private Equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, for an estimated £11billion. Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The City of New York In Finance, private equity is an Asset class consisting of equity Securities in operating companies that are not Publicly traded on Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) is a New York City -based Private equity firm that focuses primarily on late-stage Leveraged The Pound Sterling ( symbol £; ISO code: GBP) subdivided into 100 pence (singular penny) is the Currency Alliance Boots has become the first company on the FTSE 100 share index to be bought-out by a private equity firm. The FTSE 100 Index (ˈfʊtsiː footsie, abbreviated Financial Times Stock Exchange Index) is a Share index of the 100 most highly capitalised On 25 July, it was reported that banks that are part of the debt syndication have had trouble obtaining buyers for the debt. Events 285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler
Expansion and diversification
Boots from 1989 to 2002 owned Halfords and once owned FADS, a home furnishings store and Do-It-All, a joint venture with W H Smith. Halfords Group plc ( is a leading retailer of car parts car enhancements and Bicycles operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Czech Focus DIY is a privately owned chain of DIY stores in the UK. This article is about the retail chain for people of that name see William Henry Smith. Childrens World — similar to Mothercare — was another Boots company. Children's World was a chain of stores in the United Kingdom owned by Boots in the early 1990s Mothercare plc ( is a British Retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old They also considered moving into selling sex toys but in 2005 announced that they had decided not to. A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used in facilitating human sexual pleasure. [1]
In the 1990s Boots branched into dentistry, with a number of stores offering this service. Dentistry' is the "evaluation diagnosis prevention and/or treatment (nonsurgical surgical or related procedures of diseases disorders and/or conditions of the oral cavity Boots has also made a venture into "Wellbeing" services offering customers treatments ranging from facials, homeopathy, and nutritional advice to laser eye surgery and Botox (although the Botox service was short-lived). A facial is a cosmetic treatment of the face commonly involving a variety of skin treatments including steam exfoliation, extraction creams lotions masks This article has been the subject of edit wars and has been placed on probation Nutrition (also called nourishment or aliment) is the provision to cells and Organisms of the materials necessary (in the form of food to support Eye surgery, also known as orogolomistician surgery or ocular surgery, is Surgery performed on the Eye or its Adnexa, typically by Botulinum toxin is a Neurotoxin Protein produced by the Bacterium Clostridium botulinum. These ventures proved to be unprofitable. Boots Hearingcare was sold, and now trades as "David Ormerod Hearing Centres at Boots". In late 2004 Boots also sold off the Dentistry, Footcare, and Lasix eye surgery services to Optical Express. Optical Express (OE is Europe’s largest provider of the combination of optical services which includes laser eye correction Contact lenses and Spectacles.
Boots also attempted to move into the music business adding departments into many of their stores that sold recorded music, however they were unable to tempt the public away from the already established competition in this field, such as Woolworths and Our Price. This article is about the British Woolworths Group plc, and its stores Our Price was a chain of record stores in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland from the 1970s until the late 1990s
Boots has also diversified into the research and manufacturing of drugs. Medication, also referred to as medicine, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease It developed ibuprofen, a painkiller and later divested production to BASF, and in 2006 sold the Nurofen brand to Reckitt Benckiser. Ibuprofen ( INN) (ˌaɪbjuːˈpɹəʊfɛn (from the now outdated nomenclature i so- bu tyl- pro panoic- phen olic acid is a Non-steroidal Boots has expanded into the North America by supplying its popular ranges such as Botanics and No7 to retailers such as Target Stores, CVS and Shoppers Drug Mart. Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 CVS Caremark Corporation ( is an integrated pharmacy services provider combining a United States pharmaceutical services company with a U Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation ( is Canada 's largest Pharmacy chain with more than 1000 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart
Boots stores also started to sell products not traditionally associated with Boots such as Dyson cleaners - under the name 'Offer of the Week'. Sir James Dyson (born Cromer, Norfolk, England, 2 May 1947 is an English Industrial designer. These 'odd' items were bought in bulk and savings on High Street prices are passed onto the customer. High Street, or the High Street, is a Metonym for the generic name (and frequently the official name of the primary Business street Although to many this seemed odd, Jesse's own customers were often presented with 'odd' items which Jesse purchased by buying in bulk and taking the first steps towards the strength of bulk buying. Jesse once filled the windows of his second Goosegate shop with sponges. Boots abandoned this strategy as it became evident it was unprofitable. In place of 'Offer of the Week' stores now frequently give out "money-off vouchers" to be used in store.
Advantage Card
The Advantage Card is the loyalty card of The Boots Company. It is billed as "the UK's most rewarding" loyalty card as it offers four points per pound spent. Each point can be exchanged for a product costing £0. 01. Points can be exchanged for products, but only as whole payment, for example a card with 384 points on could buy a £3. 79 product, but not a £3. 99 product, even if the difference was offered in cash.
In the Republic of Ireland, the card offers 4c for every Euro spent; UK cards cannot be used in the Republic, nor vice versa.
It is Europe's largest loyalty card scheme with over 15 million cardholders, 91% of them women.
As well as the benefit for the customer, Boots can compile a vast database of information about card holders purchasing trends, aiding advertising campaigns and targeting. Each transaction conducted with the card is logged using 'smart card technology'. Advantage card holders often receive customised voucher booklets based on their history of purchases in-store.
The Boots 'health club' can be joined and gives discounts to members as well as an extra discount to over 60s.
In signing up for a Boots Advantage Card, the customer can choose to add himself to the NHS Organ Donation Register. This is the third most common method by which people add themselves to the register (first is the DVLA, second is GP registrations).
International
Since 1936, there have been Boots stores outside the UK. Stores in countries as widely spread as New Zealand, Canada (see Pharma Plus) and France were all closed in the 1980s. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Katz Group of Companies operates over 1800 pharmacies in Canada and the United States. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A new roll-out started in 1997 with The Netherlands, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan but only Thailand survives, as an independent chain. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.
Stores in Ireland have survived under the Boots company, with flagship stores on Dublin's Grafton Street, Dundrum, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and various Cork locations. Grafton Street redirects here For the street in London England see Grafton Street London, for the one in Milton Keynes England see V6 Grafton Street. Dundrum Town Centre is a shopping centre located in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland on the site of the defunct Pye television factory Waterford ( or Windy fjord;) is a city in Ireland. It is the primary city of the South East region and the fifth largest in the country Limerick (pronounced /ˈlɪmrɪk/ Luimneach in Irish) is a city and the county seat of County Limerick in the Province of Munster Galway (Gaillimh is the only city in the province of Connacht in Ireland. Cork (Corcaigh is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland 's third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast In other countries (including USA, Switzerland and Hong Kong), Boots products are sold from instore 'implants' in department stores and other drugstores, such as Watson's and Target. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 A new store has recently opended in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and several locations in Kuwait. Dubai (in دبيّ,) is one of the seven emirates and most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE The State of Kuwait ( دولة الكويت IPA [dawlatt̪ alkuwajt̪]) is a sovereign Arab Emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed
Financial performance
| Year ended | Revenue (£m) | Profit before tax (£m) | Net profit (£m) | Basic eps (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2006 * | 5,027. Earnings per share (EPS are the earnings returned on the initial investment amount 4 | 348. 9 | 303. 4 | 44. 5 |
| 31 March 2005 | 5,469. 1 | 427. 6 | 302. 4 | 40. 9 |
| 31 March 2004 | 5,325. 0 | 579. 9 | 411. 5 | 52. 8 |
| 31 March 2003 | 5,325. 2 | 494. 9 | 301. 6 | 36. 0 |
| 31 March 2002 | 5,328. 3 | 595. 8 | 404. 3 | 45. 9 |
| 31 March 2001 | 5,220. 9 | 492. 2 | 333. 2 | 37. 9 |
| 31 March 2000 | 5,187. 0 | 561. 7 | 399. 0 | 45. 0 |
* Continuing operations only. Sales from discontinued operations were £443. 8 million and profit for the year on discontinued operations was £1,469. 3 million, including a profit on disposal of £1,370. 7 million.
These financial results are of Boots Group PLC as a stand- alone company, before the Alliance UniChem Plc merger and the change of name to Alliance Boots plc. Alliance Boots Limited is a British based pharmaceuticals company operating as a high street retailer Pharmacist and pharmaceutical wholesaler
The Boots Estate
The Boots Estate features a range of listed buildings, notably D6 and D10 which are both Grade I, and D31, D36, and D90 which are Grade II. A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural historical or cultural significance Staff enjoy a staff restaurant, coffee and snack shops, newsagent, a branch of Boots The Chemist, and bank situated within beautifully landscaped grounds. A restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared Food to Customers. A newsagent ( British English) newsagency ( Australian English) or newsstand ( American English) is often a small business that sells
The landscaped grounds include the Millennium Garden which features a herb garden (with some plants that Jesse used in his original herbal remedies) in the shape of a goose foot - harking back to Jesse's original shop on Goosegate in Nottingham. A herb garden is a Garden dedicated to the cultivation of Cooking, Herbal tea, Medicinal, aromatic and/or Goose (plural geese) is the English name for a considerable number of Birds belonging to the family Anatidae.
The Boots Museum is now closed (due to cost cutting) and historical items are in storage.
The Head Offices are adorned with some interesting artefacts from old stores and feature two 'shops' where new displays and advertising are trialled. Over the summer months staff work hard to create Christmas displays in the second of the two shops hidden from view with only certain staff permitted access. The plans for Christmas - a major trading time for any retailer - start to take shape in September and late Summer as stores gradually move shelving and displays boots official website ready for the massive increase in products and stock. Stores are therefore in a state of flux for almost half the year, although the Company makes great efforts to keep disruption to a minimum to its customers and is very much focused on customer navigation of its stores.
The Head Office site also features its own trial suite where new products are sampled and tested by consumers before the final decision is made to launch a product. However Boots also develops and produces a range of products for major names.
Since the merger of Boots and Alliance UniChem, the future role of the Boots Estate has become unclear. The Alliance Boots Head Office is situated in London (on the same premises as the old Alliance UniChem Head Office), meaning some buildings on the Boots Estate will now become redundant.
The Alliance Boots Wholesale division is being run from the Alliance UniChem site in Weybridge, Surrey, whilst the Community Chemists operation is being run from the Alliance UniChem site in Feltham, Middlesex. This means that the only substantial divisions of Alliance Boots which is being run from the Boots Estate in Nottingham is that of Health and Beauty (operators of the larger Boots stores, which sell a larger range of products in addition to the core medicine range), and Boots Manufacturing (responsible for producing in house toiletries and medicinal products).
Boots Healthcare International
In October 2005 Boots agreed to sell its over-the-counter medicines business, Boots Healthcare International, which markets brands such as Clearasil, Nurofen, Optrex, E45 and Strepsils, to the Anglo-Dutch household products company Reckitt Benckiser for £1. Clearasil is a brand of skin care and acne medication whose products contain chiefly Benzoyl peroxide, Triclosan or Salicylic acid as active Nurofen is the brand name of a range of pain-relief medication made by Reckitt Benckiser (The nurofen brand was acquired following Reckitt Benckiser's acquisition of Boots Optrex is an over-the-counter eye treatment produced by Crookes Healthcare in the UK Strepsils is a line of lozenges manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser in Nottingham, England. Reckitt Benckiser plc ( is a leading British -based manufacturer of cleaning products 936 billion.
Boots used £1. 43 billion of the sale proceeds to make a one-off special dividend payment, which roughly equalised its market capitalisation with that of Alliance UniChem prior to the merger between the two groups. The remainder will be retained for investment about tonico.
The disposal was completed on 31 January 2006.
See also
External links
- Boots the Chemists Online
- Alliance Boots plc
- Boots Group PLC
- About Boots Manufacturing Ltd
- About The Boots Company PLC and Boots The Chemists Ltd
- David Ormerod Hearing Centres at Boots
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic