Alliance Boots will race to complete the entire rebranding of its opticians business before the end of the current financial year, it was claimed this week.

And, in answering a question posed by OT at an annual gathering of journalists to discuss its preliminary results, its health and beauty division chief executive said the company expected to go on a recruitment drive for its expanded Boots Opticians chain.

In what was described by Boots as a retail market of ‘subdued’ consumer demand, the overall business did well, its annual trading profit smashing through the £1bn mark for the first time (for the year to March 31).

Boots Opticians played its part in the retail giant’s health and beauty division strong growth in profit –nevertheless, it suffered from difficult retail markets and in the UK ‘regulatory pressures impacting dispensing profitability’. However, Boots Opticians delivered £320m in revenue, though in like-for-like terms, its growth was only marginal at 0.2%.

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