Boots clearly needs to do something to compete more with supermarkets - and for the moment this merger is its answer, although as you'll see from the story the analysts aren't convinced it'll work.
Whether it does Boots any good or not, though, it seems more likely that the proposed merger will damage the smaller pharmacy - who depends on people making a special journey to spend their money - than the supermarket, which gets the footfall and therefore the custom of people who happen to be passing through anyway.
This really doesn't look like good news for the smaller trader.
