// Boots UK owner paid dividend of £488m to US owner despite struggling during Covid-19
// Superior Holdings is the parent company of The Boots Company Plc and is controlled by US corporation Walgreens Boots Alliance
Boots UK parent company has reportedly paid a dividend of £488 million to its US owners while the health and beauty chain was struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UK owner Superior Holdings Limited made the payment last November – just months after Boots drew a £300 million government loan, Mail on Sunday reported.
Superior Holdings is the parent company of The Boots Company Plc and is controlled by US corporation Walgreens Boots Alliance.
READ MORE: Boots sales drop by nearly a fifth
In January, Walgreens Boots Alliance boss Stefan Pessina received share-related payment of £50 million.
This was despite The Boots Company Plc having accepted the emergency taxpayer-backed loan provided by the Bank of England.
Walgreens has paid dividends to US shareholders – including Pessina – of about £300 million every quarter throughout the pandemic.
The loan appears to have been repaid in the past ten days.
Walgreens insisted that “no dividend directly or indirectly was paid by Boots UK [the retail arm] to the group in 2020”.
“Walgreens Boots Alliance is a global company and the dividend payment reflects the company’s long-term prospects.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
2 Comments. Leave new
Ah… The beauty of tax-payer funded dividends. A further variation of Privatising Profits, Socializing Losses. And the denials? Too funny. As if no-one is aware that all money is fungible.
And what about commenting on all the rent that Boots has withheld from landlords of their premises throughout the whole period despite remaining open- and still remains outstanding? There are no loans being offered to Landlords or government assistance there!