The owner of the Boots chain said revenues had risen by 31.3 per cent to £11.74bn, powered by its pharmaceutical wholesale division's two acquisitions in Turkey and Germany last year.
But in the UK, Boots's like-for-like retail sales rose by only 0.7 per cent, including VAT, in the half -year to 30 September.
The finance director, George Fairweather, said: "In London and the South, we are seeing the economy being stronger and footfall on the high street relatively stronger in the South than in perhaps areas, such as Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the North of England."
He explained that because shoppers in these areas were being hit by a larger proportion of public-sector job cuts, they were struggling more with high inflation, rising petrol prices and soaring energy costs. Nevertheless, Boots UK's dispensing volumes rose by a healthier 1.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis. The group's health and beauty division – which has shops in countries including Thailand and the Netherlands – grew revenues by 0.4 per cent to £3.65bn over the half-year.
Andy Hornby, the former head of the rescued bank HBOS, left his job as chief executive of Alliance Boots in March. The company said two months later that he was too "stressed" to continue.
But Mr Fairweather said Alliance Boots – which was taken private in 2007 in a £11.4bn deal backed by the private equity giant KKR – had "no current plans" to start a search for a new chief executive.
The engine room of Alliance Boots's growth was its pharmaceutical wholesale arm, which grew revenues by 47.7 per cent to £8.84bn. This was largely driven by it acquiring Hedef Alliance, a Turkish pharmaceuticals wholesaler, and the Germany pharma specialist, Anzag, last year.
"We are continuing to look for acquisitions in emerging markets," Mr Fairweather said, adding that talks were "progressing" with Nanjing Pharmaceutical Group to take a stake in the Chinese wholesaler.
Fertilizer grows Canada wholesale trade in April - Reuters Canada
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A spurt in fertilizer exports helped spur an unexpected 1.5 percent increase in Canadian wholesale trade in April from March, according to Statistics Canada data on Tuesday which will improve the outlook for second quarter economic growth.
The gain exceeded even the highest forecast, of 0.8 percent, in a Reuters survey of economists. The median forecast was 0.2 percent, after the originally reported sales increase of 0.4 percent for March, now revised to 0.3 percent.
Statscan put the rise entirely down to a 48.5 percent boost in farm supplies sales; excluding that, sales did not change. It said exports of fertilizers and fertilizer materials jumped 51.8 percent in April after several soft months, and domestic sales were also strong because of an early spring and a high level of expected acreage to be planted. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
In volume terms, wholesale trade rose 1.3 percent. This is important in calculating real growth in gross domestic product. April factory sales data reported on Friday had put a damper on second quarter GDP expectations with a surprise 0.8 percent decline, though some of the fall was due to temporary factors.
Inventories rose 0.3 percent in April, while the ratio of inventory to sales fell to 1.21 from 1.23 in March. The ratio measures the time in months required to exhaust inventories at current sales levels. (Reporting by Randall Palmer, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved.
Wholesale trade expands at faster pace - CBC
Statistics Canada says wholesale sales rose at the fastest pace in almost a year in April, driven by increasing demand for agricultural supplies.
The agency says wholesale sales rose 1.5 per cent in April to $49.3 billion, mainly due to a 48.5 per cent increase in sales of agricultural supplies. Excluding that industry, overall sales were unchanged from March.
Wholesales sales are sales of goods and services between businesses and institutions, before they've reached the retail or consumer level. They are considered a leading indicator of consumer demand down the line.
Next to agriculture, the second biggest advance was a 1.1 per cent rise in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector, which partly offset a March decline.
Sales in the building material and supplies subsector rose 0.5 per cent and the motor vehicle and parts subsector gained 0.2 per cent.
The largest sales decrease in dollar terms came in the personal and household goods subsector, which dropped 2.2 per cent on lower sales in the pharmaceuticals and pharmacy supplies industry.
In April, seven provinces recorded growth in wholesale sales, including the four western provinces.
With files from CBC News
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