Boots Bothered By CSFB Call

The investment bank claims that Boots has boosted headline profits by in excess of £200m over the last eight years by incorporating income from off balance sheet deriviatives as well as benefiting from lower pension costs.

CSFB accepts that the chemist has properly declared the off-balance sheet investments in its balance sheet, but argues that 'few investors fully appreciate their significance or their impact on reported financial performance.'
The bank has now issued a new 'sell' recommendation on the company's shares, stating that 'as a corporate entity, Boots has been struggling to generate underlying profit growth to a greater extent than many investors appreciate.'

In an unusual move, Boots has now attacked CSFB's views. A spokesman for the company said that CSFB's 'conclusions are incorrect'. Boots claims that CSFB has made a string of errors in reading its accounts and that 'the CSFB note simply misrepresents our position.'