900 Head Office jobs to go at Alliance Boots
As part of its three-year programme to further improve efficiency, the company has announced a reduction of around 900 non-store based roles in the UK.
The cuts will be within the UK part of its Health & Beauty Division and related contract manufacturing activities and is designed to optimise end-to-end business processes, includes moving to a leaner central support organisation, supported by new systems, a streamlining of manufacturing operations and optimisation of supply chain activities.
It does not affect the employee base within UK stores. The 900 job losses, mainly in Nottingham, represents under 10% of the UK non-store workforce of these businesses. The restructuring programme is targeted to reduce operating costs by around £56 million per annum by 2013/14.
Related exceptional charges are expected to total around £67 million.
Alex Gourlay, Chief Executive of the Health & Beauty Division, Alliance Boots, comments: “Since 2007 we have undertaken a number of steps to make our business more robust, investing significantly in our stores and commercial offering. This latest phase will enable us to have a stronger and more agile support infrastructure fit for the long-term future.
”Our intention is to be open and transparent about how we see the future, but we understand the impact that today’s announcement may have on our people. The leadership team is fully committed to supporting them in the months ahead as we further evolve our organisation.”
