The health and beauty retailer’s adjusted operating income tumbled 29.1% to $276m. Sales dropped 2.2% to $5.8bn, while margins slipped 180bps to 4.8%.

Parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance attributed the erosion of its bottom line to lower sales, the impact of bonus payments and its investments in technology.

Walgreens said that, amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, it was “proactively deferring certain activities”, including the rollout of new beauty halls in Boots’ UK stores.