By Tess Stynes
Walgreen Co. reported its sales at existing locations rose a
better-than-expected 4.5% in November, led by growth in its
pharmacy business.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of
3.8%.
Walgreen said pharmacy sales improved 6.7%, exceeding analysts'
estimate for an increase of 5.3%. Prescriptions filled rose 2.6%. A
calendar shift had a negative impact of two percentage points and
generic drug introductions over the past year had a negative impact
of 1.9 percentage points.
Pharmacy sales represented 65.2% of total sales during
November.
In the front of the store, sales edged up 0.8%, below analysts'
projections of 1.2% during the month, as customer traffic declined
3.3%, mostly offsetting an increase in basket size of 4.1%.
Total drugstore sales rose 4.9% to $6.36 billion for the
month.
For the three-month period ended Nov. 30, the drugstore chain
operator reported total sales rose 6.8% to $19.59 billion, above
analysts' estimates for $19.34 billion. Sales, excluding newly
opened or closed locations, improved 5.8%, including growth of 1.5%
in the front of the store and 8.3% in the pharmacy section.
The company has been under pressure owing to a miscalculation in
the pricing of generic prescription drugs. Walgreen also has been
taking steps to achieve $1 billion in costs savings by the end of
fiscal 2017 and to complete its deal to buy the rest of European
drugstore company Alliance Boots GmbH.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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