The driving force behind the centre - Alliance Boots

Alliance Boots is a leading international pharmacy-led health and beauty group, formed on 31 July 2006 through the merger of Alliance UniChem Plc and Boots Group PLC. Alliance Boots has two core businesses: pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing and pharmaceutical wholesaling.

Pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing
Alliance Boots, including its associates and joint ventures, has pharmacy-led health and beauty retail businesses in nine* countries, each business focused on helping people look and feel better.

In Europe it is the clear market leader in pharmacy with outlets in the UK, Norway, Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy and Russia and it also has pharmacies in Thailand. Associates and joint ventures also operate pharmacies in Switzerland, China and Italy.

Together, with associates and joint ventures, Alliance Boots operates more than 3,200* health and beauty retail outlets of which over 2,900* have a pharmacy. Boots UK is the Group's UK pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing business and brings together the very best from Alliance Pharmacy and Boots. With around 2,600 stores from local community pharmacies to large flagship stores, it serves around 8 million customers every week.

Pharmaceutical wholesaling
Alliance Boots provides an innovative range of wholesale distribution and related services for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

Its pharmaceutical wholesale businesses, together with its associates and joint ventures, supply medicines, other healthcare products and related services to over 135,000* pharmacies, doctors, health centres and hospitals from over 370* warehouses in 15* countries. In addition, the Group's associates themselves have associates in a further two countries.

Products
Alliance Boots is increasingly seeking to enhance its customer offering through accelerating the development of differentiated products in both its Divisions.

In the Health & Beauty Division, it has highly regarded and long established product brands such as Boots, No7, Soltan and Botanics. It sees product development, packaging and product marketing capabilities as very important and it continues to manufacture a significant proportion of own product brands.

Almus, the Group's exclusive range of generic medicines, is now sold by its Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division in four countries in addition to being available on prescription from its own pharmacies in the UK.

The Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division is also developing its range of Alvita patient care products and selling Boots brands directly to third party retailers in the US and other countries.

* Figures stated are as at 31 March 2008, are approximate and include associates and joint ventures.