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Boots suffered a near 17 per cent drop in sales over the three months to August 31, even though strong online growth did help the retailer.

The Nottingham-headquartered business said its high street and travel sites had struggled in the face of the pandemic.

In-store sales were down almost a third on the same time last year and continued to be “significantly reduced” due to the pandemic.

Nevertheless, it said there had been an improvement in footfall from the previous quarter, when like-for-like retail sales were down almost 50 per cent as a result of store closures.

In July, Boots said it would more than 4,000 jobs, mainly affecting staff at its Nottingham support office, in a bid to mitigate the impact of the virus.

On Thursday, Boots said it had lost market share in all of its categories apart from beauty over the quarter.

However, it hailed strong online sales as Boots.com reported 155% growth in the fourth quarter, following from a 78% increase in the previous quarter.

It came as parent business Walgreen Boots Alliance said its international pharmacy retail division, which includes the º£½ÇÊÓƵ chain, posted a 132 million dollar (£102 million) operating loss, which it said was primarily driven by lower º£½ÇÊÓƵ sales.

Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and chief executive of WBA, said: “Despite uncertainty amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, we are seeing gradual improvement in key US and º£½ÇÊÓƵ markets and continued strong performance in our wholesale business.

“I’m also encouraged by the accelerating growth in our e-commerce platforms.

“Now, more than ever, our pharmacy-centred business is at the heart of community healthcare and we are expanding on that role for the future.”