ANDY Hornby returned to corporate life "too early" after his exit from troubled HBOS, the executive chairman of Alliance Boots said yesterday as he explained the former banker's surprise departure from the high street chemist.

Stefano Pessina said Mr Hornby was “loved or appreciated” by colleagues at Boots, before he quit as chief executive in March after less than two years in the job, saying he wanted a few months off.

Mr Hornby’s appointment in 2009 raised eyebrows because it came just months after he left Edinburgh-based Halifax Bank of Scotland. He had been chief executive before the ailing bank was swallowed by Lloyds TSB in a rescue takeover.

Mr Pessina said: “Andy is tired. He had difficulty and probably he had decided to come back to working in a company, where all work late, a little too early.

“At a certain point he has thought he had to take some time off.

“My personal relationship with him, and I believe his relationship with me, could not be better. We didn’t have any problem. He was quite loved or appreciated in the company and that is it. I do not see why people are so surprised.

“Every day there are managers who are stressed and decide to take time off.”

Mr Pessina indicated he is in no hurry to replace Mr Hornby.

“In due course we will appoint a group chief executive. For the time being we will continue to work as we have been,” he said.

Alliance Boots had another good year, four years after it was taken private in a deal backed by private equity house Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in what was Europe’s largest leveraged buy-out.

Thanks in large part to acquisitions overseas, revenue was up 15% to £20.2 billion while trading profit climbed 14.2% to £1.1bn in the 12 months to March 31.

The company’s debt pile, which is a legacy of the KKR deal, fell £546 million to £7.8bn after the company generated £1.3bn of cash.

Boots, which has 3250 stores globally, is due to refinance the first tranche of its debt in three years’ time, which will be closely watched given the tightening of credit conditions since the original deal.

Finance director George Fairweather, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, said: “Our debt is continuing to come down.

“I am confident we will be able to refinance at attractive rates.”

Mr Pessina indicated that Boots will remain a private company for some time.

Recent reports have suggested it could seek a listing in Switzerland.

“If I am able to interpret the desire of KKR, I think for the next two to three years they will be happy to stay with this company as it is now,” he said.

Boots’s retail revenue in the UK grew 1.2% on a like-for-like basis, including VAT which increased from 17.5% to 20% in January.

Trading profit in the UK was up 5.3% at £713m, the company reported.

Alex Gourlay, chief executive of Boots’s health & beauty division, said that cosmetics sales were down while other items such as fragrances were up.

“People are still buying as much cosmetics,” he said.

But many shoppers are looking for special offers or trading down to cheaper brands.

It continued to expand overseas, selling more Boots products in markets such as Italy and the United States.

The wholesale business, which generates more revenue but is less profitable than the retail operation, saw revenue grow 1.7%, in the face of Government efforts to cut health spending.

“We are planning for consumer demand to be subdued,” Mr Pessina said.

“We continue to expect governments to seek ways to constrain growth in healthcare expenditure.”

But he predicted Boots could still generate “double digit” profit growth in 2011/12.

The company, which is headquartered in Switzerland, sought to combat complaints that it is not paying enough tax by revealing it paid £240m into the UK exchequer last year, including employers’ national insurance and business rates.

It declined to say how much of this was corporation tax.