Alliance Boots Cutting 900 U.K. Jobs

According to a BBC report, Alliance Boots is cutting 900 non-store U.K. jobs over the next three years. The retailer/beauty company said it hoped to achieve the cuts where possible through staff turnover and redeployment. The company aims to save £56 million per year by 2013–14 by trimming its workforce. It employed 75,000 in the U.K. (115,000 globally) and operated 2,500 stores as of a May 2010 report.

The company was bought by private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for £11 billion in 2007. Boots and Alliance Unichem had merged a year earlier. In May, The company had announced a pre-tax profit of £475 million for the first quarter, up from £13 million a year earlier.

Most of the job cuts will affect staff working in Nottingham, where Alliance Boots has its main U.K. base, and impact the company's beauty business and related contract manufacturing activities.

"Since 2007, we have undertaken a number of steps to make our business more robust, investing significantly in our stores and commercial offering," said Alex Gourlay, CEO, Boots Alliance. "This latest phase will enable us to have a stronger and more agile support infrastructure fit for the long-term future."

In early 2007, Boots expanded its presence in North America by going nationwide in Target stores. Boots first entered the U.S. in 2004 in select Target stores. The launch included five proprietary ranges.

A February 2008 GCI magazine feature noted Boots lines were bringing U.S. consumers into doors and making stores where it was retailed destinations. Euromonitor International cited Boots’ Protect & Perfect, with the data backing its efficacy, as the type of product boosting consumer confidence in antiaging products.

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