Boots denies leaking information

Pharmacy chain Boots today denied leaking price-sensitive information ahead of a trading statement that knocked almost 13% off its market value.

The company – which warned that a £390m (€582m) investment in stores would hit profits – is believed to have been accused of the leak during an analysts’ conference call on Friday.

The claim was made at the end of the call, when an analyst from investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said the news had already been leaked, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

He is understood to have said: “I am sure half of the people on this conference call know that one of your brokers was talking a story of a substantial increased investment programme at least in the week ahead of the statement.”

It was reported that the analyst then asked the directors to “do their utmost” to prevent a false market developing in future.

Finance director Howard Dodd is said to have then insisted that the company’s broker, Merrill Lynch, had not leaked any information.

Today a spokesman for the company confirmed that the comment was made on a conference call but denied there was any truth in the claim.

He said: “We did not leak anything to anyone. We are completely confident that the procedures we follow stand up to the highest corporate governance.”

Shares in the health and beauty chain slumped 91p to 623.5p on Friday after the group outlined its plan to create 3,000 jobs from 60 new stores.

Chief executive Richard Baker warned that the modernising move would impact on profits for the next financial year, leading analysts to sharply reduce their forecasts for the 2004/05 period.

One broker reduced profit estimates by £110m (€164m) to around £530m (€792m).

It came despite a forecast-busting 4% rise in quarterly sales, with a good performance in all areas, especially prescriptions, cosmetics and fragrances, and food.