Boots is now Walgreens

Hi,

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but to me, business is business and deals such as this will always be happening. The UK is going through, and will continue to go through a very bad patch financially for the next few years. There's simply not as much money being thrown around by the population as there once was. A little more of the population has realised that amount on the credit card does actually have to be paid back and thus, other spending gets reeled in. It's not a case of 'selling out' as if they 'stay in the UK' many companies would probably fold altogether. By selling to a foreign owner, there's a chance 'some' jobs will continue to be saved and UK operations to continue, albeit at a smaller level than previously. I'd rather that, than to have whole companies go bust. There's been a fair few of those too recently, where foreign buyers haven't been found and those companies have gone into administration.

I'm not singling out anyone on this thread, but in the business community, many do hear of people saying they hate UK businesses going abroad, to which it's often replied with 'what else can we do? bills and payroll is due in a couple of weeks again and sales are down' - what would those people complaining about the situation do if they were the decision makers?

In this case, Boots has agreed to 45% of it's stocks being sold to Walgreens, on the face of it, it seems a good move, Boots are now part of a 'big machine' and hopefully that'll be enough to carry them through this financial mess the UK is in - survival is key here. Business costs are extremely high, red tape is a massive hindrance to UK businesses, Laws are stacked in the consumers favour and trying to make some money is often greeted with mentions of greediness by members of the population, so I don't blame Boots agreeing to the stock sale.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Fair points but here's my view
I work for a bank in IT, this is a bank that took millions in taxpayers money to be bailed out and then they are shedding tens of thousands of well paid jobs. But it's not a case that these jobs no longer exist, no, they are shipping the jobs offshore to India and then expect us, the people being laid off, to do "knowledge transfer" to these staff. It's a false economy as well, because as good as these developers are, and no doubt about it they code programs exactly to spec, therein lies the issue.....because they don't know how the business works and could come back and challange a spec and say "well, actually that probably won't work" or "if you do it this way it would be more efficient" and then you can have a discussion on it....I've see things ready to go into live with quite obvious spelling mistakes because they just coded what was in front of them.
I challenged an exec at a meeting the other week and they just say "well the best way we can repay the taxpayer is to return to profitablility at the first opportunity" but even if they are returning to profitability you've taken out tens of thousands of tax payers from the system.
Also, part of the area I work in for the bank is "investments", well, if you lay off thousands of middle income staff, who in the country is going to be buying these investments.
Yes, the bottom line is it's a business, and it's run first and foremost for it's shareholders.....and there's the problem - people do not matter, as long as the board can defend their high salary, and their high bonus, and increase their share price then everyone else can go to hell......big business do not care!

Hi,

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but to me, business is business and deals such as this will always be happening. The UK is going through, and will continue to go through a very bad patch financially for the next few years. There's simply not as much money being thrown around by the population as there once was. A little more of the population has realised that amount on the credit card does actually have to be paid back and thus, other spending gets reeled in. It's not a case of 'selling out' as if they 'stay in the UK' many companies would probably fold altogether. By selling to a foreign owner, there's a chance 'some' jobs will continue to be saved and UK operations to continue, albeit at a smaller level than previously. I'd rather that, than to have whole companies go bust. There's been a fair few of those too recently, where foreign buyers haven't been found and those companies have gone into administration.

I'm not singling out anyone on this thread, but in the business community, many do hear of people saying they hate UK businesses going abroad, to which it's often replied with 'what else can we do? bills and payroll is due in a couple of weeks again and sales are down' - what would those people complaining about the situation do if they were the decision makers?

In this case, Boots has agreed to 45% of it's stocks being sold to Walgreens, on the face of it, it seems a good move, Boots are now part of a 'big machine' and hopefully that'll be enough to carry them through this financial mess the UK is in - survival is key here. Business costs are extremely high, red tape is a massive hindrance to UK businesses, Laws are stacked in the consumers favour and trying to make some money is often greeted with mentions of greediness by members of the population, so I don't blame Boots agreeing to the stock sale.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Denis I always like to read your posts.
My posts may read like "I said it so it is" and I hope not.
Do people know that Boots is Italian owned or was?
Well if the Queen is German all things are possible!
There is an article today about the number of big name corporations that will be no more after this year and for the reasons you mention.
Cheers

Do people know that Boots is Italian owned or was?

I see no reference to that at all anywhere online.

However, I did find that Boots was sold to a U.S. firm in 1920, only to be sold back into the Boots family in the UK in 1933 after the American economy tanked.

Hi,

Tykeman - I think some of the 'extended' family also work in the IT dept of the bank you are with! So, I hear of insider information as well. I'd like to put the point forward that is not 'just' big corporates who have an attitude of 'not caring about it's people' in the way that's much publicly mentioned. It happens and exists on the small business level too, perhaps not quite to the same extent as such, but the fundamentals are exactly the same for when it comes to people. I say this from experience in being involved in a family business that went from 2 to around 28 employees as well as when speaking to business owners as part of my IT/Financials/Accounting consulting.

I understand your points though, previously when I was in corporate, I too have trained my replacements, in my case 'one' of me meant 'five' in a call centre in India. It didn't bother me one iota, but other's within my department were hopping mad. I did ask them what they would do if they were the business owners and of course, I didn't get very much in the way of sensible or workable answers. The reason that particular course of events happened is that the costs of keeping a UK operation were making the balance sheets look worse year on year added to dwindling demand. That company took the decision to keep only one of it's product offerings and axe two. I knew all 3, but my role was still axed. Microsoft followed suit a short while later - the UK market on a world stage is remarkably small for most products/services out there.

As the UK is a big 'mix' of Capitalism and Socialism, all the public Vs private debates will always be around. In the last few years it's the banks that have had the main amount of critiscism levelled against them, which has sort of taken the focus off the massive waste and incompetencies of state run departments. Now that more of the fallout is affecting more people this time around, there's more interest in what the situation is and hopefully, on how to move ahead and recover as quickly as possible. The nationalised banks will 'eventually' return to private run ownership but such is the British way of trying to 'hold back' and 'knock down' successful enterprises there's always going to be that distrust thing. When companies are and do get sold off to foreign owners, part of that issue must come down to the fact demand from the population has reduced as they no longer can 'stick it on the credit card' like they used to during the 'credit party years' - other nations who don't have that attitude have cash rich individuals, companies and investors and will continue to sell to them in order to get 'some' money back into their businesses and if that can be or will be done with less people/roles, then so it will be.

Cheers, I see Chary has contested what you wrote, I don't actually know if Boots were Italian owned, even if it was, it's no bother really.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

OK here is some information on the Italian connection for Boots.

Walgreens is initially buying a 45% stake in Alliance Boots for £4.3bn, but it intends to buy the remainder for another £6bn within three years.

The deal is a coup for the firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina, who snatched Alliance Boots off the stock exchange in 2007 in a controversial £12.2bn takeover backed with £9bn of debt. At the time it was Europe's biggest ever private equity deal and KKR and Pessina were accused of loading what was termed a British institution with a mountain of debt.

I've been spoiled by a multitude of 24 hours Walgreens in the US...it would be amazing if the 24hr format was headed to the UK as well.

I've been spoiled by a multitude of 24 hours Walgreens in the US...it would be amazing if the 24hr format was headed to the UK as well.

I hope not! I like that the UK actually has some downtime. Not everything needs to be open all the time. I'm even quite happy that lots of places around here still close for lunch. It's a more pleasant, more relaxed, more natural and less frenetic way of living.

I've been spoiled by a multitude of 24 hours Walgreens in the US...it would be amazing if the 24hr format was headed to the UK as well.

Why?

Why does everything have to be available all the time? We already have 24hr supermarkets and 24 hr petrol stations. Some 24 hr drive thru McDonalds etc.
If you look in the local press or online you can find a list of emergency pharmacies if you need one, they usually have a rota as to which is open.
Then again - I think DW would quite like a 24 hr Wawa near by!

I've been spoiled by a multitude of 24 hours Walgreens in the US...it would be amazing if the 24hr format was headed to the UK as well.

There could be, but in Sheffield we only have one 24/7 pharmacy and its in one of the crappiest areas of town - mainly so they can issue methadone at all times.

My local Boots is open to midnight mon-sat and thats only for RXs to be filled. I think thats enough... Its expensive to run stores all night (shift differential pay, electricity,  etc) and plus as someone whose done that work, is not fun and its soul sucking. It might be GREAT for you, but not so great for their staff.

The Cherokee line has been around in the U.S. for decades.  It's sold at Target, as well as Kohl's and, if I recall correctly, sometimes K-Mart and Shopko/Pamida (and probably other regional chains). 

I thought it was odd when I saw it at Tesco.

*Nods* I know I used to buy Cherokee stuff when I worked at Marshalls 1988-1990 so definitely not a Tesco only brand

*Nods* I know I used to buy Cherokee stuff when I worked at Marshalls 1988-1990 so definitely not a Tesco only brand

Ah OK. I've only ever seen it there. I figured they were competing with Walmart/George. 

Ah OK. I've only ever seen it there. I figured they were competing with Walmart/George. 

George is an original Asda brand, I worked on Asda IT systems and helped in the George set up, this was prior to the Walmart takeover. It was George Davis, who started up Next, that came into partnership with Asda to start the brand.

Why?

Why does everything have to be available all the time? We already have 24hr supermarkets and 24 hr petrol stations. Some 24 hr drive thru McDonalds etc.

If you've ever spent much time working odd shifts, you'd know why.   I used to work 10 pm to 8 am, 4 nights a week.  On my nights off, it was still easier to keep to the nocturnal schedule.

From the time I woke up (around 6 pm) until I left for work (around 9), I was busy around the house and catching a few precious Skype hours with my husband.  And when I left work in the mornings, I was exhausted, and all I wanted was to go home, have some cereal and go to bed. 

So as many of my errands as possible- groceries, prescription pickup, etc.- were done in the middle of the night on my nights off.  24-hour and drive-thru services were lifesavers for me.

I'm even quite happy that lots of places around here still close for lunch. It's a more pleasant, more relaxed, more natural and less frenetic way of living.

The closed-for-lunch thing drives me insane!  If I take time out of my day to drive 40 minutes (each way) to get to a bank or other service, only to find it closed, I get monumentally annoyed.  

To me, it's not a sign of a quaint and relaxed lifestyle-- it's a sign of incredibly poor planning/management on the part of the business, and zero consideration for customers.

It would be slightly different if I were in a city, where these things were only a few minutes' walk away, and there were any number of interesting ways to kill time while I waited.  But out here, it just seems like another '$*%* off, it's not like anyone here has anything important to do anyway!'  It fills me with the same sort of rage I get when stuck behind a caravan at 25 mph on a single-track road.