Boots shares fell 6p to 541p yesterday following the Office of Fair Trading’s recommendation that the pharmacy market be deregulated.
The small dip surprised the market because the high street chain has Britain’s single biggest presence in pharmacy.
However, Boots has quickly moved to suggest that it stands to benefit from the change as much as the supermarket giants, offering it significant expansion opportunities.
Chief executive Steve Russell said he expected Boots to gain market share from independent chemists and smaller chains, rather than lose it to the supermarkets.
Financial Times 18/01/03 page 3
