Standard & Poor's (S&P), the international ratings agency, said it will not be downgrading the credit rating of Boots, the UK retailer, after its pension fund dumped its equities portfolio for debt securities.

The agency said it viewed the Boots move as &quotpositive, in so far as it enables the group to maintain a substantially smaller pension fund cushion, to reduce dealing costs by approximately £10m (€16m) a year, and to make company cash contributions more predictable and stable&quot.