Boots cuts prices to pile pressure on Mothercare

Boots has invested£21 million to slash prices on key baby lines, as the health and beauty retailer ups the ante against the likes of Mothercare.

The retailer yesterday cut prices on 200 lines, comprising infants' skincare products, food, clothing, toys and nursery equipment.

Boots aims to boost sales of baby products, which contribute 5 per cent of its turnover, and hopes to claw back market share in the baby sector after losing ground to grocers and specialists.

Price cuts include selling 72 Johnson's skincare refill wipes for£2.69, rather than£2.99, and Heinz canned baby food for 32p compared with its previous 38p price point.

The retailer, led by chief executive Richard Baker, was due to reveal interim results as Retail Week went to press. Pre-tax profits were expected to be more than£150 million for the six months to October 27, but like-for-like sales were anticipated to be down 1.3 per cent.

Boots was due to submit details of its£7 billion proposed merger with healthcare giant Alliance UniChem to the European Commission this week.