HIGH street pharmacist Boots is cutting 500 jobs in a bid to save £100m.

The company has been under increasing pressure from shareholders to improve performance as it faces tough competition from supermarket rivals.

The company, which yesterday announced a 17 per cent fall in annual pre-tax profits to £494.9m, has been restructuring to concentrate on core businesses Boots the Chemist and Healthcare International, the division behind consumer brands including Nurofen, Strepsils and Clearasil.

Yesterday's job losses, which will all be at its Nottingham headquarters, follow 700 staff cuts in March, when Boots closed its Wellbeing Services business.

In February the company closed its factory in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

The latest cuts focus on the human resources, finance and information technology functions.

Chairman John McGrath refused to rule out further job losses and said there were probably more to come.

Boots is planning to strip out further costs with a target of saving £100m, announced last November.

The company has already begun a shake-up of its supply chain to reduce inventory and stockholding in stores.

The recent shake-up saw the departure of chief executive Steve Russell who was with the firm for 36 years, including three years in the top job. He is being replaced by Richard Baker in September, who has been with Asda for almost eight years.

Boots' restructuring has seen the company sell the Halfords car maintenance chain as well as closing Pure Beauty concept stores.