Boots to close 300 shops despite strong quarterly sales

Announcement will add to recent speculation that owner Walgreens is preparing to put firm up for sale again

Boots is to close 300 shops in the year ahead despite a 13.4% rise in quarterly turnover fuelled by high sales of sunscreen during the UK's hot spell.

The high street chemist, which is owned by the US group Walgreens Boots Alliance, said it was evolving the store estate" by shutting branches that were close to each other in order to directstaff to where they were needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores".