For a man who less than two years ago invested £1.27bn of his personal fortune in a consumer-facing company that is now having to trade through the worst recession in a generation, Stefano Pessina seems surprisingly relaxed.

In fact, as he takes his seat in the boardroom of Alliance Boots’ headquarters, perched above his flagship Boots health and beauty store on central London’s Oxford Street, the 67-year-old entrepreneur seems to be actually looking forward to talking about how his £15bn retail and drugs distribution business has fared through the financial crisis before of the publication of his annual review next month.