Boat owner back in the black amid divided plans
The US owner of Boots is likely to return to profit this week, amid mounting speculation that the company is looking to spin off the British pharmacy chain.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, created by the merger of Boots and US group Walgreens in 2014, is expected to report a profit of £264m in the three months to the end of November, according to forecasts by data site Refinitiv.
In the same period a year ago, the company posted a loss of £2.9 billion, which was due to settlement costs of lawsuits related to Walgreens' alleged role in the US opioid epidemic.
Sales, meanwhile, are expected to rise slightly from £26.2 billion in 2022 to £27.4 billion in 2022 when figures are reported on Thursday.
Expectations about a return to profit follow reports in recent weeks that Walgreens is considering spinning off Boots and listing it as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange.
Sign off?: Expectations of a return to profit follow reports that Walgreens is considering spinning off Boots and listing it as an independent company
The American chain tried to sell the British division last year, but stopped because a suitable buyer could not be found.
A demerger is believed to be back on the agenda after Boots sold its pension scheme for £4.8 billion last month, removing a major hurdle to a sale.
Investors have been putting pressure on the group for years to divest its UK arm and other European operations, arguing that doing so distracts management from its US operations, where it is the country's second-largest pharmacy chain.
A Boots flotation after 15 years as a private company could give a much-needed boost to the London Stock Exchange after a year of high-profile defections sparked fears the city is losing its allure.