Drug store chain Walgreens took a hit last quarter, forcing it to announce a halt in share buybacks and 4,000 job cuts at its struggling UK unit Boots
) said on Thursday it would close stores, cut jobs and suspend share repurchase as the coronavirus crisis hammered its ailing Boots UK division, leading to a $2 billion impairment charge in the third quarter.
Stringent lockdown measures in Britain led to an 85% plunge in traffic in its Boots UK stores in April, the company said. Adding to the burn, its profit-yielding premium beauty and fragrance counters were closed for almost 10 weeks. On Thursday, the company said it would close 48 Boots Opticians stores and cut 20% jobs in Boots’ UK support office, impacting more than 4,000 employees or 7% of its workforce.
While footfall virtually ground to a halt in its Boots stores, sales surged in the online business with daily volumes reaching Black Friday levels towards the end of the third quarter, Walgreens Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe said on a post-earnings call.
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