Walgreens decides not to sell its massive Boots business

Walgreens Boots Alliance has decided not to sell its huge United Kingdom Boots business, after months of floating the idea.

Deerfield-based Walgreens began reviewing whether to sell Boots in January, but recently decided not to sell Boots or its No7 Beauty Company business, noting in a news release that “since launching the process, the global financial markets have suffered unexpected and dramatic change.”

There are more than 2,200 Boots stores.

“As a result of market instability severely impacting financing availability, no third party has been able to make an offer that adequately reflects the high potential value of Boots and No7 Beauty Company,” the company said in a news release Tuesday. “Consequently, WBA has decided that it is in the best interests of shareholders to keep focusing on the further growth and profitability of the two businesses.”

Walgreens has been performing well recently. In the second quarter of this year that ended Feb. 28, Walgreens reported adjusted earnings of $1.59 per share, beating expectations, and revenue climbed about 3% to $33.76 billion.

Still, Walgreens has been trying to cut costs in recent years, announcing plans in October to try to slash $3.3 billion in costs by 2024, up from an earlier goal of $2 billion a year by 2022, which the company has already reached.

It’s also been increasingly forming partnerships to better compete and bring more people into stores. Earlier this month, it announced plans to launch a clinical trials business. In October, Walgreens said it would invest $5.2 billion in Chicago-based VillageMD, which provides primary care to patients, and increase the number of Village Medical clinics in its stores, with many in medically underserved communities.

Walgreens also announced in October a majority investment in CareCentrix, a Connecticut-based company that coordinates home care for patients, including after they go home from the hospital. In September, Walgreens said it would invest $970 million in Massachusetts-based Shields Health Solutions, which is a company that helps hospitals and health systems with specialty pharmacy services.