Walgreens Profit Tops Views
January 07 2016 - 8:20AM
Dow Jones News
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. reported weaker-than-expected
revenue growth for its latest quarter, though profit came in above
expectations, and the company raised its earnings outlook for the
year.
Shares of Walgreens fell 1.9% in premarket trading Thursday.
Walgreens, which last year agreed to buy Rite Aid Corp. for
about $9.4 billion, raised the bottom end of its 2016 earnings
outlook by 5 cents, to a range of $4.30 to $4.55 a share.
The tie-up with Rite Aid, uniting two of the country's three
biggest drugstore owners, would create a drugstore giant as
companies across the U.S. health-care industry look for ways to
bulk up.
Walgreens said the company and Rite Aid received requests for
more information from the Federal Trade Commission last month. The
deal was expected to draw scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
Walgreens said it still expects the deal to close in the second
half of 2016.
For its fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30, Walgreens said sales
at its U.S. pharmacy locations open at least a year rose 5.8%. On
the same basis, prescriptions filled grew 4.7% over the prior
year.
Walgreens said it expects its distribution agreement with
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. to boost its pharmacy
market share this year.
In all, Walgreens posted a profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.01 a
share, up from a prior-year profit of $850 million, or 89 cents a
share.
Excluding special items such as acquisition expenses, earnings
were $1.03 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast 96
cents a share in adjusted earnings.
Revenue jumped 48% to $29.03 billion, fueled by its acquisition
of the part of European drugstore chain Alliance Boots GmbH it
didn't own already.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast $29.24 billion in
revenue.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2016 08:05 ET (13:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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