Boots sheds 700 jobs in cost-cutting

High Street chemist Boots has announced it will cut 700 jobs as part of a restructuring.

The jobs to be cut will be non-store based and affect only Boots' UK-based offices.

The move follows the company's merger with US giant Walgreens, which took effect at the end of last year.

Boots said the cuts would "simplify support operations" and that it would attempt to redeploy, retrain and offer redundancy to those affected.

Company president Simon Roberts said: "Together with my leadership team, I believe this plan will make Boots even better for our customers and drive sustainable future growth.

"We also remain fully committed to our presence in Nottingham, which has been the home of Boots since the very beginning.

"We have not taken these decisions lightly, and understand the impact that today's announcement may have on our colleagues.

"We are fully committed to doing everything we can to support all our people as we transform Boots and strive to be even better for our customers and patients."

Boots has 2,511 stores in the UK.