Walgreens June Sales Increase 9.9 Percent, USA

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 04 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) had June sales of $4,810,100,000, an increase of 9.9 percent from $4,378,540,000 for the same month in 2007. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) rose 3.4 percent, while comparable store front-end sales increased 3.5 percent.

June front-end sales were helped in part by strong sales of promotional products, consumables and gift cards. Zyrtec, which recently switched from prescription to over-the-counter status, benefited front-end sales by 0.5 percentage points. Meanwhile, front-end sales were hurt by comparisons to last year's introduction in June of alli, the over-the-counter diet medication, and promotional pricing in the photofinishing department.

June pharmacy sales increased 9.7 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 3.3 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.1 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 0.8 percent. June prescriptions filled were negatively impacted by 0.6 percentage points due to the switch of Zyrtec to over-the-counter status. There was no impact on comparable prescriptions filled in the month due to calendar day shifts.

Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.4 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar 2008 sales were $29,706,406,000, an increase of 10.4 percent from $26,901,278,000 in 2007.

Fiscal 2008 year-to-date sales for the 10 months were $49,247,118,000, up 10.1 percent from $44,719,043,000. Comparable store sales for the fiscal year to date increased 4.4 percent.

Walgreens opened 50 drugstores during June, including seven relocations, acquired three drugstores and closed one.

At June 30, Walgreens operated 6,772 locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. That includes 6,297 drugstores, 544 more than a year ago. The company also operates worksite health centers, home care facilities and specialty, institutional and mail service pharmacies. Its Take Care Health Systems subsidiary manages 183 convenient care clinics at Walgreens drugstores. Franchisees of Option Care, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walgreens, are not included in Walgreens location or store count.

Please note: Monthly sales numbers are preliminary and unaudited. Comparable stores are defined as those drugstore locations open for at least 12 consecutive months without closure for seven or more consecutive days and without a major remodel or a natural disaster in the past 12 months. Relocated and acquired stores are not included as comparable stores for the first 12 months after the relocation or acquisition.

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