Walgreens July Sales Increase 10.7 Percent

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 06 Aug 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Walgreens (NYSE: WAG)(NASDAQ: WAG) had July sales of $4,891,700,000, an increase of 10.7 percent from $4,417,489,000 for the same month in 2007. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) rose 4.1 percent, while comparable store front-end sales increased 4.2 percent.

July front-end sales were helped in part by strong sales of consumables and key beauty items. Zyrtec, which recently switched from prescription to over-the-counter status, benefited front-end sales by 0.4 percentage points. Meanwhile, front-end sales were hurt by promotional pricing in the photofinishing department and comparisons to last year's introduction of alli, the over-the-counter diet medication.

July pharmacy sales increased 10.8 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 4.1 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 1.8 percent. July prescriptions filled were negatively impacted by 0.6 percentage points due to the switch of Zyrtec to over-the-counter status. Also, calendar day shifts accounted for a positive impact of 1.2 percentage points on comparable prescriptions filled.

Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.2 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar 2008 sales were $34,593,060,000, an increase of 10.5 percent from $31,318,766,000 in 2007.

Fiscal 2008 year-to-date sales for the 11 months were $54,133,772,000, up 10.2 percent from $49,136,532,000. Comparable store sales for the fiscal year to date increased 4.3 percent. Please note that next month, calendar day shifts in August will have a significant negative impact on comparable prescriptions filled because patients fill fewer prescriptions on weekends versus weekdays. Compared to the 2007 calendar, August 2008 loses a Wednesday and Thursday while gaining a Saturday and Sunday.

Walgreens opened 57 drugstores during July, including two relocations, acquired six drugstores and closed one.

At July 31, Walgreens operated 6,849 locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 6,356 drugstores, 559 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 191 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.

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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