By Chelsey Dulaney
Rite Aid Corp. on Thursday said sales at stores open at least a
year grew 3.3% in February with pharmacy-sales growth again
outpacing growth in the front end.
For the five-week period ended Feb. 28, Rite Aid said total
drugstore sales rose 1.7% to $2.56 billion.
The pharmacy business reported a 4.1% rise in same-store sales,
which included a negative impact of 1.44 percentage points stemming
from new generic drugs. The prescription count rose 2.2%.
Front-end sales at existing locations rose 1.6%, Rite Aid
said.
The results marked a slowdown from the company's January sales,
when it posted 4.8% same-store sales growth and 4.3% growth in
overall drugstore sales.
In February, Rite Aid agreed to buy pharmacy-benefit manager
Envision Pharmaceutical Services for about $2 billion from
investment firm TPG, a deal that would better position the company
to compete with drugstore giants like CVS Health Corp., which
agreed to buy pharmacy-benefit manager Caremark Rx Inc. in 2006 for
$21 billion.
Earlier this year, rival Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said it
would cease issuing monthly sales reports. Instead, the company
will opt to explain its performance in quarterly reports.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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