A MILD winter for coughs and colds and pressure on prescription income failed to prevent Alliance Boots lifting profits in UK health and beauty.

The group, which includes a store at King Street in Huddersfield among 2,500 UK stores UK-wide, was helped by demand in beauty and toiletries as last year’s launch of its exclusive Champneys range of bath products helped revenues in this area lift 2% to £2.15bn.

Across UK retail, profits were 5.2% higher at £750m, although sales were down by 0.3% at £6.37bn for the year to March 31 – driven by a 1.6% decline in dispensing and related income to £2.37bn.

While it dispensed more prescriptions than a year ago at 224m items – up by 1.9% on a like-for-like basis – Boots faced further reductions in reimbursement rates set by the Government.

It was also affected by more branded medicines losing patent protection and being substituted by cheaper rivals.

In the retail health category, revenues decreased by 2.4% to £891m due to strong competition and lower volumes of cough and cold remedies following a quieter winter for such ailments.

Elsewhere in Alliance Boots, the pharmaceutical wholesale division, which supplies medicines to more than 160,000 pharmacies, doctors, health centres and hospitals in 21 countries, saw revenues surge by 27.9% or 2.4% on a like-for-like basis. Group-wide profits were up by 10.2% to £693m.